Melbourne City marquee signing Robert Koren has discussed his ambitions for the upcoming season as he linked up with his City teammates during Monday’s training session – which he “enjoyed”.
“I never done something like this,” the former Hull City skipper said.
“I came here to help the club, to put the club to another level and I will train hard every day and hopefully I can help the team to reach what we want to reach at the end of the season.
“I would invite everyone to come to the games and make their own opinions about me; I don’t like to talk about myself – like I said, I will work hard every day and hopefully I can help the team.”
The 33-year-old has extensive playing experience in Europe, enjoying stints at Lillestrøm, West Bromwich Albion and Hull City and admits he was looking for a fresh challenge and took the opportunity when Melbourne City came calling – admitting he was excited by the club’s ambitions.
“My contract was running out at Hull City and I got a call from my agent that Melbourne City was interested to sign me so I was looking for something new, something different – I was looking for a new challenge [and] I’m glad that I came over here,” said Koren.
“I was in England for seven and a half years and I saw this as a good challenge for me. Then I sat down with people from Melbourne City and when they explained everything to me, it’s a really good project, it’s something to build up and I was really inclined to come over here.”
Koren admitted that even he never thought he would be playing football in Australia but said hearing positive things about Australia and the growing state of the game in Australia influenced his decision to sign with Melbourne City.
“I never thought about [playing in Australia] before but I have some contacts here in Australia who said a lot of good things. Australian football is growing every year and that’s why I came here,” he said.
“I played three years in Norway, I played with Shane Stefanutto (Brisbane Roar) so I know him really good and Richard Garcia (Perth Glory), I played with him at Hull City so [I am] looking forward to the season.”
Koren – who will wear the number 10 jersey this season – completed his first training session with Melbourne City and is hoping to get back to full fitness and line up against Sydney FC in City’s FFA Cup clash on August 12.
“I just done the first session and I will work hard every day until next Tuesday and then it’s up to the manager to make a decision so we will see how we go,” he said.
“It was a hard session for me because I was out of training for two months – I did a lot of individual training but when a ball is involved, it is a bit difficult, it’s a different kind of training but I enjoyed it.”