Gamble on Genk the right move for Vukovic

IT’S when he gets home from an away game that Danny Vukovic can see the difference, and know that the enormous decision he took was ultimately the right one.

Some 18 months after his son Harley had a liver transplant, and a year after Vukovic secured a move to Belgium at the ripe old age of 32, the angst of Harley’s early years is gone.

Harley is too young to understand it now, but soon enough he’ll read about the year his dad went to the World Cup on the back of winning player of the year in his first season overseas.

The decision to quit champions Sydney FC to take up an offer at Belgian side Genk was fraught with competing factors, most of all giving up the family support and excellent medical care in western Sydney.

“There was a lot of thought went into it,” Vukovic said.

“It was something I’d dreamt about for a very long time, and we came to a decision as a family that we could do it.

“When we were at Melbourne (Victory, two and a half years ago), Harley was in the middle of his illness, and he really wasn’t doing very well.

“Now I look at Harley and he’s just a normal little boy, you wouldn’t be able to tell that he’s had anything wrong with him.

“We’ve come a long way as a family, his health is the best it’s ever been and we’re just very grateful for the position we’re in.”

It wasn’t quite so cut and dried in the early weeks of the season, with Vukovic confessing to a couple of nervous errors as he tried to establish himself at Genk.

“I put a lot of pressure on myself early on, especially after the season I’d had at Sydney FC,” he said.

“It was like I couldn’t do anything wrong there and the moment I arrived in Belgium, it felt like I was making mistakes.

“But once I relaxed and got used to the football life there, I started to come into my own.

“I’m expecting to have an even better year next year.”