Defender departs Phoenix for Korea
Defender Dylan Fox has opened up on his surprise exit from Wellington Phoenix, saying the decision to walk away from the club that gave him his first professional contract stemmed from a simple desire to play more regularly.
It was announced by the Phoenix last week that the club had mutually terminated the
24-year-old’s contract in a brief press release that consisted of just two sentences; one which said the termination was mutual and one which wished him well for the future.
Fox, the recipient of the players’ player of the year award last season, has struggled for game time under coach Mark Rudan, with centre-backs Andrew Durante, Steven Taylor and Michal Kopczynski ahead of him in the pecking order. He played just six matches this season and was unlikely to feature again after sustaining a season-ending ankle injury against Sydney FC last month.
But it now can be revealed that Fox wanted to terminate his contract early because he had an offer to play for Anyang FC in Korea’s second-tier. As the new K-League 2 campaign has only just kicked off, Fox will have ample opportunity to put his hand up for selection once he recovers from the injury. He said he should back on the training field in just a couple of weeks.
‘‘It literally all happened with
24 hours to be honest. I spoke to the club and said with my injury to this extent I’m not going to play again this season for the Phoenix and this opportunity has come up, I can get right over here and then get playing. It was a bit of a no-brainer for me personally,’’ said Fox, who was unveiled by his new club on Monday.
Although he had nothing but positive things to say about his four-year spell in Wellington, Fox felt he had stagnated in recent months due to his lack of minutes and said he was ready to tackle a new opportunity overseas.
‘‘I want to be playing every week. I’m at the age now where I need to be playing every week,’’ he said.
‘‘Four years I had in Wellington and I had such a good time, they made me feel welcome and I’m grateful for them giving me my first opportunity. This season it has been hard to get game time, the boys have been going really well and I think I had the hardest backline to get into with the most capped A-League player ever and an ex-Premier League player in my position, so it was definitely a hard spot for me personally.’’
Fox has signed with Anyang for just one season but said his intention was to help the team in their push for promotion to the K-League and to earn a contract extension. He did not rule out a return to the A-League in the future.