All Whites goalkeeper Oli Sail is being linked with A-League club Perth Glory as the club he’ll join when he departs the Wellington Phoenix at the end of the season.
But wherever he ends up, he has unfinished business first with the Phoenix, he says.
After the Phoenix beat Newcastle Jets 2-1 at Wellington’s Sky Stadium, Sail told Sky Sports:
“All I can say is, I won’t be here next season.
“I won’t be playing for the Phoenix next year. A number of factors weighed on my decision. For me, it’s about my evolution, about my progression and where I want to get to. And for me, I felt that was the best way to do it.
“I’ve loved my time here. I’ve been here a long, long time. People forget that. I know I have only been playing first team football for three years, but I’ve been here for the best part of a decade.
“I think people can give me a little bit of leeway in wanting a fresh start.”
Sail is adamant there will be no drop in his commitment to the Phoenix.
“I think anybody who knows me as a character, knows that I’d never let that happen.
“We’ve got a bunch of players in the same position – but we’re professionals. We have our own ambitions.
“Every time i step out onto a football pitch, I try and play the same way. I just try to do what the manager is telling me to do and I’ll take it as it comes.
“We have very high hopes for the rest of this season. The manager is pretty coy to the media about what we’re trying to achieve all the time, he tends to keep it a little bit under wraps, because we have a young squad and we have to manage expectation on the players’ shoulders.”
Sail is one of three Phoenix players who are out of contract this year and who plan to leave.
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