The boy from Down Under says the only way for the Seagulls to fly is UP

WIZARD of Oz Aaron Mooy never dreamed he would be playing in the Premier League with the goalie from his school team 10,000 miles away in Sydney.

But when Brighton’s midfield playmaker and Socceroos chum Mat Ryan face Sheffield United today, you can bet your possum dollar they will be loving every minute.

Westfields Sport High School, in Sydney’s sprawling western suburbs, is not an obvious breeding ground for Premier League stars.

But Ryan is in his third season as Brighton’s first-choice keeper and Mooy sprays his passes across the Amex like a subway graffiti artist.

Football Down Under (proper football, not that Aussie Rules mayhem) has never been in ruder health.

And at £5million, Seagulls head coach Graham Potter didn’t just land an outrageous bargain when he turned Mooy’s loan from Huddersfield into a permanent deal: It was like buying a Rembrandt at a car-boot sale.

Picked up by Bolton as a teenager but released without playing a minute for the Trotters, Mooy – now 29 – drifted back to Australia after trying to kick-start his career at St Mirren. “I had lots of offers to sign for Asian teams, but I didn’t want to abandon hope of playing in the Premier League,” he said.

“I had worked too hard just to give up. I could have jumped at one of the first opportunities that came along from other countries but I’m glad I didn’t. I’m glad it worked out this way.”

Manchester City found a jewel on the payroll at their sister club, Melbourne City, and brought him back to England four years ago. And although the route to first-team football at the Etihad was blocked, quiet man Mooy found a way to get himself noticed at Huddersfield and now Albion.

It took him to the World Cup in 2018, and now he’s part of the fair dinkum brotherhood with Ryan (right) at the Amex.

He said: “Playing at the World Cup was always one of my dreams walking out fo in Russia, t everything I h It gave me goo

“But I never year later, I w for Brighton w who lived just or not very far miles away.

“Maty grew Druitt, I was Quakers Hill team-mates a Westfields, alt the year below

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