Ryan mighty
MARK ROLLS OUT WELCOME MAT
MARK BOSNICH believes Premier League new boy Mat Ryan can follow in the gloveprints of him and fellow Aussie Mark Schwarzer.
Brighton splashed out a club-record £6million fee for the goalkeeper, who impressed last season at Belgian side Genk, where he was on loan from Spanish La Liga side Valencia.
And former title winner Bosnich, who spent 11 years between the posts in the top flight, is in no doubt that Ryan can be mighty.
He said: “He’s the most talented young goalkeeper in Australia I’ve seen.
“It will take him time but if people are patient with him, of course he can be mighty.
“He played very well when he went back to Genk in the Europa League.
“He did well at Valencia when he was given the opportunity but he got injured unfortunately.
“But he i s an excel lent goalkeeper.”
Bosnich (right) was No.1 for Aston Villa, Manchester United and Chelsea, winning two League Cups and the Premier League title in 2000 during a career which spanned 20 years.
Schwarzer spent two decades with Bradford, Middlesbrough, Fulham, Chelsea – where he was a fringe member of the squad which won the League Cup and the Premier League in 2015 – and Leicester City, where he again won the title in 2016 without playing a league game. And Bosnich, 45, now a TV pundit Down Under, has told Ryan, 25, what to expect in England. The two were team-mates when the keeper, who played in the recent Confederations Cup, was aged just 17 at the Central Coast Mariners. Albion’s new keeper hails from the same part of western Sydney where he and Schwarzer grew up and Bosnich added: “Maybe there’s something in the water out there. It’s fantastic news for Australian football that Mat is joining Brighton. “We’ve got a link with Australian keepers that have done well in England – Mark Schwarzer, myself, John Filan, Adam Federici. I said to him, ‘You’re going to the most exciting league in the world’. “It will be a great experience for him and he’ll be very busy this year.”