Two New Zealand footballers are hoping the turn of the year prompts a turn in fortune.
Marco Rojas is hoping his fifth European club is the one that finally kick starts his overseas career, while fellow All White Ryan Thomas is on the mend after a horror start to life at Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
The Dutch city of Eindhoven is known as the home of Philips. But the electronics giant has long since left town, leaving football club PSV as its crown jewel.
So it was a bitter blow for Ryan Thomas when he suffered a knee injury just weeks after signing for the Dutch champions from minnows PEC Zwolle.
It means he’ll miss most - if not all - of his first season and had to watch from the sidelines as PSV played the likes of Barcelona, Tottenham and Inter Milan in the Champions League.
But the blow of the injury was softened by reassurances from his new manager.
He might not be playing, but Thomas is soaking up the experience of being around one of Europe’s top clubs.
"Obviously PSV has won the league a few times recently, so it’s a big part of Eindhoven," he told Newshub.
"But Eindhoven is nice. Compared to Zwolle it’s bigger but compared to Amsterdam and Rotterdam it’s quite small."
Up the road in the small town of Heerenveen, it’s also been a challenging season for Marco Rojas. He played just 60 minutes all season for the Dutch club, before securing a transfer to Denmark this week.
Rojas knows how tough making it in Europe is. Denmark will be the fourth country he’s played in.
"You always have to believe in yourself and have the confidence in yourself," Rojas said. "I’ve had my difficult times in my career where maybe I’ve lost it a bit."
But the man once dubbed the Kiwi Messi is aiming to use Denmark as his launching pad in 2019.
Newshub.
