Aussies Abroad - January

Transfers

Great to see some very positive transfers occurring, none moreso than three young Aussies on their way to the EPL. Players have moved around a lot in Europe, with the first players now in Austria after that market has been lacking an Aussie presence for a few years.

Also "new" on the map is Thailand, and the number of players calling Korea home has surged to eight. With the leagues in Indonesia having now resumed, there has been plenty of player movement there.

Club Level

England (Premier League) – The best performing Aussie recently is Tim Cahill. He has managed to break his season duck and Everton has climbed to 10th.

Fulham No.1 Mark Schwarzer, Blackburn's Vincenzo Grella and Aston Villa's Chris Herd are in the medical rooms. Fulham and Villa have been inconsistent, while Blackburn sit in the bottom three after an average festive season.

England (Championship) – Results have not been ideal for Middlesbrough of late, but Scott McDonald certainly found his scoring boots. He managed to add another five goals to his scoring tally over the past months but has suffered an untimely injury. Also performing well is team-mate Rhys Williams. Rumoured to be a big dollar target over January, he has decided to stay put with Boro. Importantly he has made 28 appearances so far this term, suggesting his injuries are behind him.

Another hoping to put injury behind him is Richie Garcia. He has returned to a Hull City team that sits just outside the playoffs, but he is yet to be restored to the starting eleven.

Adam Federici has been reliable yet again as Reading enjoys a recent climb up the table, while Mile Jedinak's Crystal Palace is going in the opposite direction.

Both Neil Kilkenny (Bristol City) and Shane Lowry (Millwall) find themselves narrowly clear of relegation places but will be hoping for some quick points to avoid a tense end to the season.

England (League One) – From an Aussie perspective, it's all about Alex Cisak, Dean Bouzanis and James Wesolowski at Oldham Athletic. Unfortunately, another up and down month now sees the boys in the bottom half of the table, but a congested bunch mid table means they can climb quickly with the games Oldham has in hand.

England (League Two) – Shrewsbury Town (Shane Cansdell-Sheriff) remains in the hunt for automatic promotion, while the loan deal for Aaron Downes (Bristol Rovers) seems to be paying dividends with the team climbing clear of the relegation spots.

Italy (Serie B) – The top three teams are fighting out a great battle for the two automatic promotion places. Carl Valeri’s Sassuolo currently sits second, however every win matters at this stage.

Italy (Serie C2) – Four straight wins for Christian Esposito's aside FC Catanzaro has seen it push into the playoff positions and still a reasonable chance of automatic promotion. Esposito continues in the starting XI.

Germany (Bundesliga) – A rare recent start for Mitch Langerak in a Borussia Dortmund side that is flirting with pole position in the league.

A fantastic month for Borussia Monchengladbach (Mathew Leckie) as it climbed to within reach of a Champions League place.

Hertha Berlin has had a very poor few months, dropping back into relegation danger. Nikita Rukavytsya is just returning from an injury break.

Germany (2. Bundesliga) – Fortuna Dusseldorf has certainly got the shakes at the top of the table. Robbie Kruse has not featured much recently.

Netherlands (Eredivsie) – AZ certainly does have the shakes, letting the league lead slip. Brett Holman has been the centre of transfer speculation in January, but rumours of a transfer have subsided.

FC Utrecht has not been in sparkling form but fortunately the teams below it are not putting any pressure on. The three Aussies (Oar, Zullo, Sarota) are predominately used from the bench at the moment.

Scotland (Premier League) – The story from an Aussie perspective is all about Ryan McGowan. He is back in the starting XI, scored his first senior goal and helped Hearts climb to fourth on the table.

Aaron Mooy (St.Mirren) is getting limited minutes after an injury interupted early season, but Matt McKay is still to get a look in at Rangers.

Scotland (Second division) – Arbroath still sits just behind Cowdenbeath as it chases automatic promotion. Beau Busch has now played over a 1,000 minutes this campaign.

Greece (Super League) – PAOKmoved to third on the table, however Apostolis Giannou is yet to make a huge impact, coming on as a substitute in all his appearances.

Greece (Football League) – Robert Stambolziev scored in his debut after coming off the bench. Thrasyvoulos has certainly had a good month, but many more points will be needed to avoid relegation.

Greece (Football League Two) - Paniliakos now leads the league comfortably with young Christos Tomaras making a significant contribution.

Turkey (Super Lig) – After putting a pay dispute behind him, James Troisi has hit a bit of a purple patch in terms of scoring as Kayserispor climbs the table.

Portugal (Liga de Honra) – After an amazing start to the season, Atletico CP (Caleb Patterson-Sewell) has come back to earth. Nothing more evident of this than a recent 5-0 lost to new leader Estoril.

Switzerland (Super League) – Now back on top of the table, Basel is on winter break with Scott Chipperfield in tow.

Wales (Premier League) - Entering the second half of the season, Bala Town (Mark Pullman) finds itself in the Championship group.

Japan (J-League) – The competion came to a close in December with Nagoya Grampus finishing second after a slow start, just a point shy of Kashima Reysol. Josh Kennedy claimed his second Golden Boot is successive seasons. The Aussies have had great seasons.

Josh Kennedy - 2790 minutes, 19 goals
Eddy Bosnar - 2835 minutes, 5 goals (transferred to Korea)
Alex Brosque - 2556 minutes, 7 goals
Matt Spiranovic - 2080 minutes, 0 goals

Japan (J2 League) – FC Tokyo (Jade North) won the title and promotion. Not sure if there will be any Aussies in J2 next season.

Jade North - 250 minutes, 0 goals
Mark Milligan - 2517 minutes, 1 goal

U.A.E. (UFL) – Al Nasr has been the big mover of late, led by Mark Bresciano. He has played every minute of his 10 starts, and managed to score seven goals. From memory he was taking time out for the national team, not retiring. Will see if his name pops up in the next few months.

The older boys obviously like the conditions as Lucas Neill has also played every minute in his 12 starts and scored three goals in the process.

India (I-League) – Tolgey Olzbey (East Begal) has contributed nine goals as his team now sit third on the table. Close behind is Daniel Zelleny's Mohun Bagan.

Hong Kong (HKFA 1st) - Having just resumed after Chinese New Year, Karl Dodd's TSW Pegasus is running second. Not so successful for Sun Hei (Milovanovic), Tuen Huen (Vekic) or Sham Shui Po (Evans) who are all in the bottom half of the table.

New Zealand (Premiership) – Still leading the Golden Boot is Aussie George Slefendorfas (Canterbury United) as his side closes in on Auckland City.

Injuries

As teams return for a mid season break for many, will be interesting to see who has managed to shake off injury. Recent additions to the wounded are Mark Schwarzer (back), Patrick Kisnorbo (knee), Scott McDonald (knee), Chris Herd (ankle), Bradden Inman (knee) and Matthew Park (knee).

Youth

Fairly quite as most youth leagues took a break over Christmas/New Year. Reece Caira featured recently in the “NextGen Series”.

National level

No fixtures to report, but plenty coming up.

All information current to January 31.