Steve Kuzmanovski

[Delije]

Contiki?

In Bitola visiting his relos...

[mack]

Off to City supposedly.

   

[Neverbloom]

good, he has a stupid name anyways

[DCWSW]

good, he has a stupid name anyways

 

[Alexander]

Off to City supposedly.

   

Geez Mack, way to ruin a weekend...

[DCWSW]

Off to City supposedly.

   

[West13]

Farking serious?!?!

WTF....

[Alexander]

 

Off to City supposedly.   

 

This (if it does happen) is yet another example why the HAL needs to implement some sort of domestic transfer system. He's been, at least partly, developed by the academy and now another team gets to reap the benefits. If we had a transfer system I am pretty sure that they would have signed him to a longer contract, knowing that they could either loan him out or get value in a sale. Also, they need to fix the salary cap re youth contracts. Why are they counted in the cap? What great incentive is there for HAL clubs to develop academies if they can't get any monetary value for their developed players? How can we hold on to players if we can only give them the min $ and sign them on short term contracts?

[Taurus]

Kuzi was basically on petrol money, whilst playing with the youth squad. 

He may have earned a bonus each time he played AL games. 

He would have been offered one of 3 Senior Youth Contracts (45k pa) with Heartless.

WSW had 5 players on these contracts last season, Sotirio, Fofannah, Perkatis, Alessi & Lo.

Once you add Aspro, Youlley, D'Cunha & Traj etc. etc. into the mix, we can anticipate losing talented youngsters to the poachers each & every season going forward. 

[shacols]

This hurts.

I agree there should be something in place to allow a club to be able to more easily keep their developing players.

Whilst I can't ignore Kuzis own efforts, the club should be rewarded for the guidance he receive from Trevor Morgan and Popa.

[Wanderer74]

He is my favourite player. Hate to see him play against us

[DinoPresinger]

He is my favourite player. Hate to see him play against us

No danger of that. He's not good enough

[hawks2767]

Meh, we live in an absolute goldmine as far as football talent is concerned, we will find more youth with more talent without even trying

[WSW27]

Couldn't we just sign him on a cheap squaddie contract. He's been a better winger than most this season

[ManfredSchaefer]

 

He is my favourite player. Hate to see him play against us

No danger of that. He's not good enough

 

 

Seen him at Macarthur Rams and Canberra pre-season games, all home games he played for 1st team and last NYL game. He is a major talent and unlike say Perkatis and the unlamented Kwabs has belief and ability to grow into his role. Should be kept if possible

[pushiepedlar]

agree with the sentiment that we should try and hang on to young Steve. He became Bay 49s ( at least the front 6-8 rows) favourite player. Lots of love for him from the members there.

It's very hard though given the cap restrictions. There needs to be something done about it. I don't think not have them count towards the cap at all would work. probably opens them up to exploitation. However if a player has spent time in a youth program run by the club perhaps only a percentage of the salary in counted. The percentage lowers with the number of years spent as a youth player prior to A-League debut. This not only encourages clubs to invest in the academy and youth program but also encourages them to hang on to their own products.

[Dalison]

Better prospect than Sotirio IMO. Shame if he is off.

[theguest7]

What is this ****? Would've loved to see him stay.

[mack]

There's no difference between a youth contract and a regular contract except that the youth contracts are slightly less paid and there are three of them in addition to the normal squad.

[West13]

He probably also got sold on the annual trip to Manchester and all the people from there watching Melbourne looking for talent... 😂

[longball]

four thousand step overs, no control or vision and only good in front of goal gets you a contract---that's does me

[Nnnnnathan12]

He probably also got sold on the annual trip to Manchester and all the people from there watching Melbourne looking for talent...

If he is off to City, that is the only reason that I could think of, 

or they offered him a better/more long term contract

[That70sDude]

I feel like the reaction here is a bit like this, just cos one of our kids chooses to go get a better deal elsewhere (and although I rather he stick around, he's gotta do whats best for his livelihood and future), shrieking that suddenly the rules need to be changed is a bit O.T.T

 

[WestSyd]

I feel like the reaction here is a bit like this, just cos one of our kids chooses to go get a better deal elsewhere (and although I rather he stick around, he's gotta do whats best for his livelihood and future), shrieking that suddenly the rules need to be changed is a bit O.T.T

 

I agree that sometimes we push the whole "he's OUR youth player" thing too far. A lot of these youth players don't end up making it, and Kuzy is nowhere near the finished product. In fact he still has a lot of weaknesses. Having watched 15 mins of Gol Gol in our last game of the season, I am convinced he is a player who will do well if he has an uninterrupted season. Kuzy still has another two seasons of developing to a-league standard.

[Zelinsky]

Him staying or going won't make a difference for us. Unless there are a few injuries he wouldn't be on the pitch or bench. I am not going to lose any sleep over this should he really leave.

[TehSmileyBandit]

Him staying or going won't make a difference for us. Unless there are a few injuries he wouldn't be on the pitch or bench. I am not going to lose any sleep over this should he really leave.

 

I'm with you - Aspro, Youlley, Sotiro and Fofannah need to fight for the youth contracts. Alessi, Lo, D'Cunha, etc. all in the same boat. I'd rather keep the first four and let Kuzi go than lose any of them.

[smp]

If the much-discussed academy ever hits its straps, in five years time we'll have more quality youth than we will ever have space for in the first squad. This will happen many times over, and in my view that can only make Australian football stronger.

 

Anyway, for all we know, losing Kuzi just opens up a space for someone even better to come through.

 

Don't get too attached to our youth players. Most are on a pittance and desperate for match time. I don't care how good our setup is, it won't take much for rival clubs to turn their heads under those conditions.

[ManfredSchaefer]

Sorry, but whilst I understand why folk want to prioritise certain youth players ahead of K-Man, look at someone like Lo. Been AWOL for almost the entire time he's been with us (only time I've seen him get any serious game time in the seniors was the friendly against Adelaide at Penrith before 2013/14) and whilst he may have had some other non-A-League games he has been the sight unseen 'hero' for far too many. Alessi has gone backwards, and Perkatis struggles for game time. Youlley has had one (admittedly very good) senior game. Aspro, Sotirio and Fofanah have demonstrated to varying degrees they can step it up. 

 

And folk rank K-Man as expendable after all this? FFS he's only 18 & has the build of a tissue paper, but give him a proper pre-season with the older guys and some time in the gym and he could be something special. I recall vividly watching him with Tranquillo and WDSWF in that first pre-season against Macarthur Rams when he was trialing, and he tore it up. And when Pryd and I watched him the last NYL game at Poppandetta Park he again looked far better than several of those same youngsters various folk have been cracking a fat for. If he's gone and City have offered him something far more worthwhile for him so be it...but this bullshit of folk saying 'ah doesn't matter' after the fact is mealy-mouthed crap.

[luisenrique]

This is the worst news ever

 

[WestSyd]

Sorry, but whilst I understand why folk want to prioritise certain youth players ahead of K-Man, look at someone like Lo. Been AWOL for almost the entire time he's been with us (only time I've seen him get any serious game time in the seniors was the friendly against Adelaide at Penrith before 2013/14) and whilst he may have had some other non-A-League games he has been the sight unseen 'hero' for far too many. Alessi has gone backwards, and Perkatis struggles for game time. Youlley has had one (admittedly very good) senior game. Aspro, Sotirio and Fofanah have demonstrated to varying degrees they can step it up. 

 

And folk rank K-Man as expendable after all this? FFS he's only 18 & has the build of a tissue paper, but give him a proper pre-season with the older guys and some time in the gym and he could be something special. I recall vividly watching him with Tranquillo and WDSWF in that first pre-season against Macarthur Rams when he was trialing, and he tore it up. And when Pryd and I watched him the last NYL game at Poppandetta Park he again looked far better than several of those same youngsters various folk have been cracking a fat for. If he's gone and City have offered him something far more worthwhile for him so be it...but this bullshit of folk saying 'ah doesn't matter' after the fact is mealy-mouthed crap.

You're right. He might come back to haunt us in three years time, and we might eventually regret what we did. But as someone else mentioned, I don't think anyone should be losing sleep over this. He is just another kid who might make it or might not. Time will tell us.