Auckland FC head coach Steve Corica says fans of the new A-League expansion club will probably need to wait till July/August before signings of foreign players are revealed.
Speaking to NewstalkZB host D’Arcy Waldegrave, Corica explained he and the club’s director of football, Terry McFlynn were targeting the best New Zealand players first.
Examples were the three All Whites (Cam Howieson, Michael Woud and Francis De Vries) and an U-23 New Zealand international (Jesse Randall) who became the club’s first signings on May 30, 2024.
“I think the foreigners for us would normally come a little bit later, probably in July/August sometime, so there’ll be players available, and good players available around that time,” Corica said.
The Auckland FC players’ contracts start on July 1, which is when they’ll begin pre-season training ahead of the 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Corica said Auckland FC majority owner Bill Foley had promised strong local representation in the squad, but he and McFlynn were having to secure New Zealand players before their current clubs got them under contract “so we can’t get them.”
“We’ve had to be a little bit smart and speak to the ones who are out of contract,” Corica told Waldegrave.
“Myself and Terry (McFlynn) went to Egypt to watch the All Whites and to speak to a lot of them when they were over there and, hopefully, we can bring a few of them players back as well from overseas.”
Corica said he was confident Auckland FC would start with a strong squad but it might take a couple of years to fully get the squad they wanted.
“It takes time but we’re on the right track,” he said.
Corica said he was enjoying the challenge of putting together a completely new club.
“It’s starting from nothing. If you go into a normal football club, there’s equipment, there’s footballs.
“We have absolutely nothing. So we’ve had to start from fresh.
“For myself, that was probably the challenge I liked as well. I’ve been at one club (Sydney) for 19 years and I wanted something a little bit different, and this is definitely different, starting a whole new club from scratch.”
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