Europe a learning experience: Rojas

MELBOURNE Victory recruit Marco Rojas says he does not consider his time in Europe a failure, and hopes to return to the form that made him an ALeague sensation.

Rojas rejoined Victory on a 2½-year deal this week, his third stint at the club having left in 2017 to play in the Netherlands, then Denmark.

He previously returned in 2016 after a tough time at German club VfB Stuttgart, which included two loan spells.

“I don’t look at any of it as a failure,” Rojas said yesterday. “For one, I learnt a lot from my experience in Europe.

“As a footballer you don’t really know what’s going to happen when you take these leaps of faith and you go to these different places.

“But, of course, maybe I didn’t expect to move around as much as I did.

“But I’ve learnt a lot from the different leagues — quite a lot from my last stint in Denmark because that’s the time where I’ve played the most consistent or played the most minutes.

“And I think being involved and playing in those different leagues allowed me to pick the different things from the different types of football and form what I think is the type of player I am now.”

With his contract at SonderjyskE ending in December, Rojas trained by himself before joining Victory this week.

The 28-year-old has been named in Victory’s squad to face Sydney FC tonight.

“As a footballer your ability to perform really depends on a lot of factors. I have always felt really at home here at Victory and I guess that has contributed to some of my performances,” he said.

“If you feel good, then sometimes you are capable of doing things you would not think about beforehand.

“I am just really looking forward to getting back out there again.”