Striker joins the Phoenix family

Babies, rather than goals, are front and centre of Andrija Kaludjerovic’s life at this point in time.

The 30-year-old Serbian was unveiled by the Wellington Phoenix yesterday as their new striker for next season, but he will be in town for only a matter of days before flying back home for the birth of his third son.

‘‘I have two boys and I have one baby I am waiting for for maybe five or six days. One more son,’’ he said.

‘‘I will return to Serbia for this important date for my family to be together. Then I will come back and start training.’’

With almost eight weeks until the season starts, there will be more than enough time for Kaludjerovic to get acquainted with the Phoenix squad. He has a reasonable level of residual fitness, having been playing in Thailan up until two weeks ago.

He sought a release from his club, Port FC, to join the Phoenix, saying the ambition of new head coach Darije Kalezic, and his assistant, Rado Vidocich, was a major drawcard.

‘‘They want to make the best results in the history of this club. Everybody wants this. I have the same ambition and that is why I’ve come here.’’

Kaludjerovic played for the Brisbane Roar for the second half of the 2014-15 Hyundai A-League season when Vidosic was an assistant coach.

He scored five goals in 10 league matches. Only seven of those games were starts, so his strikerate was a goal every 123 minutes. That was the fourth most frequent of any player to play more than 350 minutes that season, according to statistics website Opta Sports. He also scored twice in six Asian Champions League games.

The stint included a memorable match in Wellington Phoenix history when they grabbed their first win over the Roar at Suncorp Stadium. The game was abandoned in the 73rd minute as torrential rain fell and flooded the pitch, but the result stood under Football Federation Australia rules.

‘‘I scored a goal, but we lost this game 2-1. I saw that Wellington was a very good team at that time, a very good squad, good defenders, and they played with our captain Andrew Durante and [former player] Ben Sigmund.’’

Kaludjerovic has enjoyed a a 14-year professional career which started at Serbian club OFK Beograd. His overall goalscoring record stands at a respectable 108 from 236 matches, including being the leading scorer in the Serbian league over the last 10 years.

He has made three appearances for the Serbian national team, making his debut in 2010.