At the start of each season, Western Sydney Wanderers players are told they are locked in until the final game of their campaign. Under the strict regime of Tony Popovic, there is only a short window where contracted players are allowed to leave the club in pursuit of offers abroad, roughly between the end of one season and the start of the next pre-season.
This much is made clear to every player when they sign, and apart from those deemed surplus to requirements or the rare contractual clauses and issues, there is no exception. That was until Thursday's shock announcement that captain Nikolai Topor-Stanley will be granted leave to finalise a move to UAE club Hatta after round one of the A-League season.
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The Wanderers coach made the unusual step in announcing his captain's withdrawal from Friday night's grand final replay against Adelaide United. Topor-Stanley was certain to start against the Reds given a suspension to Aritz Borda, yet Popovic publicly gave his blessing for the defender to leave early to sign a lucrative contract with Hatta, despite not being able to make his debut until the following game.
"The situation with Nikolai has changed this morning where he's got an opportunity possibly overseas that we're allowing him to have a look at today and possibly pursue," Popovic said.
It posed the question whether this was a rare sign of goodwill towards their greatest ambassador or confirmation of the long-held murmurings the club was desperate to part ways with its most iconic player.
Despite leading the club to three A-League grand final appearances, a premiership and playing an incredible role in guiding the Wanderers to a 2014 AFC Champions League title, the relationship between Topor-Stanley and the club was strained by Thursday's departure.
The towering centre-back began to attract interest from Asia in October 2014, when his stellar performances in the heart of defence against Guangzhou Evergrande and FC Seoul caught the eye of clubs in China and earned him a call-up to the national team. There was plenty of flirting with foreign clubs, though offers never arrived and for the better part of two seasons Topor-Stanley spent his time at Parramatta clouded by talks of an imminent move to Asia.
"As a player you always keep your options open no matter what position you're in," Topor-Stanley told News Limited in December 2014. "But at the moment it's just pure speculation. Until it's in black and white and you're signing a contract, it doesn't mean anything."
He loved the club, but privately Topor-Stanley wanted to follow teammates such as Matthew Spiranovic into the lucrative Asian market. Agents were notified to keep their eyes open for any opportunities abroad and when some did arise, they didn't come to fruition. Famously, two scouts from China were instructed to spend up to $3 million on the towering defender but following a poor performance against Perth Glory that cheque never landed on the desk of Wanderers chairman Paul Lederer.
The club never received any formal offer in the following days, something they privately lamented for months. Topor-Stanley was one of the highest earners beneath the salary cap at the Wanderers and his performances at the tail-end of last season were being called into question by the club's inner sanctum. Publicly, they admitted as much by signing five central defenders for their 2016-17 squad, something unheard of in a salary cap league.
Two years of foreign clubs doing no more than flirting left the Wanderers thinking their chances of cashing in on their prized defender had run out. By the start of this pre-season, they were even open to allowing Topor-Stanley to move to a rival A-League club if the opportunity arose.
Topor-Stanley was faced with the prospect of less game-time, the Wanderers with missing out on a transfer and having a highly-paid player on their books and it was out of such desperation that both jumped at Hatta's offer.
It may have broken one of the Wanderers' rule, but it maintained their historic stance that every player at the club will one day be dispensable, even the biggest stars.
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