An English championship club is hovering and a European national team is monitoring his progress but Sydney FC midfielder Brandon O'Neill isn't paying any attention to the mounting interest in his services from overseas.
The 24-year-old central midfielder is becoming one of the hottest transfer targets in the A-League now he's entering the final six months of his contract with the Sky Blues but is ignoring the line of potential suitors that will come knocking in January transfer window. An English championship club in the hunt for promotion to the Premier League could make a bid for his services while so too the Republic of Ireland national team, whom he is eligible to play for due to his ancestry.
Brandon O'Neill is focused on daily training and not European interest. Credit:AAP
Being so wanted makes for an exciting time in a footballer's life but O'Neill is only focused on his daily training loads with the Sky Blues, barely even looking ahead to the Melbourne Victory game on Sunday let alone his next move.
"It's quite funny because I don’t really pay much attention to anything. You get the odd message and phone call from here there and every where, saying this and that but it’s just noise," he said. "I tend to not worry about those things because you can’t really affect it or control it. All you can control as a player is waking up and doing anything you possibly can and making sure you’re playing the best you possibly can."
Instead, O'Neill is focused on his daily routines, his pre-hab, diet, sleep patterns, training performances. Much of that has to do with his overall frustration in his attitude last season.
"I had a think about last year and to be honest, I hated that year. Not because of our success - we were succeeding, we played great football and we won the league - but me personally, I was just turning up and expecting things to happen. I was just going through the motions," he said.
Going through the motions: Brandon O'Neill, right, was frustrated with his 2017-18 season.Credit:AAP
The midfielder reflected heavily on that campaign during his honeymoon in the off-season where he decided to change his approach to training and games. That's why that in spite of the mounting interest from overseas, he's not so much as glancing at the emails with subject lines relating to his future.
"You can come into training and feel tired, not feel motivated and you can slack off and you can put your feet up and relax. You just think the weekend’s performance will take care of itself. The hardest thing a fella can do is wake up and be the best you can be every single day. That’s what I’m trying to do," he said.
"If you're doing that, you’re living a pretty good life and you’ll be fulfilled. At the moment, that’s my challenge."
Despite being overlooked for the Socceroos in the three games under the tenure of his former club coach, Graham Arnold, representing Australia would be his first choice for international allegiance. Though, O'Neill would find it difficult to knock back Ireland should they come calling first.
"It would be an incredible honour to represent Ireland or Australia and I’ve said that so many times that for me and my family, it’s not just a case of choosing which one it’s just a case of keep doing what I’m doing and once a decision has to be made then I will make it," he said.
Dominic Bossi is a football reporter with The Sydney Morning Herald.
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