Greek Australian midfielder Mells was part of Adelaide United’s squad that won the Grand Final and Premiers Plate during the 2015-16 A-League season.
Mells was 18 at the time and under the watchful eye of Barcelona legend and then Adelaide coach Guillermo Amor, when the midfielder had his breakthrough campaign, featuring in 24 of 27 league games.
Mells also played in the Grand Final that saw Adelaide defeat Western Sydney Wanderers 3-1, securing the Reds first ever A-League title to the delight of over 50,000 fans at Adelaide Oval.
The journey to the A-League for Mells was not your typical route. At 11 he was spotted by an English scout while playing for his hometown club in Melbourne’s Richmond. The youngster was plucked from virtual obscurity and offered a spot at English club Reading’s youth academy.
A year later a remarkable turn of events saw English powerhouse club Chelsea offer the midfielder a spot at their famed academy. Suddenly, the 12-year-old found himself amongst football’s elite.
“It was a pleasure to be part of the best team in the world for two-and-a-half years,” Mells says looking back.
“Chelsea’s youth academy has always been renowned as the best academy in terms of results across all age groups. Even at that age, they don’t take it lightly. They take it as serious as they do with the seniors.
“Because for them it’s all about winning. For me it was a fantastic experience. I’ve carried a little bit of it everywhere I’ve been. I learnt that it is not acceptable to lose. It’s not acceptable to come second. It’s all about winning and having a real winner’s mentality. That’s what I learnt from my time at Chelsea.
“It’s hard when you’re 12. You know how big the club is but at the same time you don’t really. Most of us who were there didn’t appreciate it as much as we should have. It sounds sad but that’s the truth. Looking back, I was playing at the best club in the world. It was special.”
After Chelsea, Mells moved to Southampton where he was part of their youth set up between the ages of 14 to 18 which also saw him called up to play for Greece’s U-17 youth team.
“That was a very good experience. Very, very good,” he says. “I played a few games with them, just friendlies. It was incredible. I don’t speak Greek, that was the only thing. But the boys, it didn’t matter to them. They treated me very, very well. It was a very good team as well. Greece is a beautiful country. That’s where we played most of our friendlies. I had already played for Australia. For me it was a fantastic experience and you never know in the future what will happen, so we’ll see.”
After his time at Southampton, Mells was then offered a contract with another football giant, this time Greek Super-League side Olympiakos came calling, but the deal fell through at the last moment.
However, an opportunity arose to come back to Australia and that is when Mells signed a two-year deal with Adelaide. It was Mells’ first professional contract and he still feels a sense of jubilation when he looks back on that Grand Final winning season with the Reds.
“It was just a fantastic year amongst a special group of players,” the 20-year-old says.
“When I first got there, the players were a bit sceptical because usually young players like myself are on the fringes and maybe playing in the youth team. But I was in the squad every week.
“After not such a great start by the team I played many games that year. I got a lot of minutes under my belt and a lot of experience.”
Mells natural position is as an attacking midfielder. But Adelaide United coach Amor used the youngster as a defensive midfielder – and the 20-year-old lauds the Spaniards belief in him.
“The coach had a lot of faith in me,” he says. “So, I can only thank him enough for the opportunities he gave me. I was a player that was unproven in senior football, yet he had the vision that I could play a certain brand of football and it worked.
“I did everything that was required of me. I changed my whole game to suit the way the team played.
“We were playing teams off the park and I was doing those tougher jobs, that no one else wants to do. But I did them because I understood that if I wanted to play in this team, to be in a team of champions, you have to do a job and you have to adapt your game.”
While Mells was having the season of his life with United, behind the scenes his family was in turmoil as his father, George Mells Snr, was battling a life-threatening illness.
It’s a lot to take for anyone let alone someone so young, but Mells says it didn’t affect his performances on the park.
“My dad had cancer in my first year at Adelaide,” he says. “He had to spend Christmas in hospital. They had to remove the whole kidney, so he only has one kidney now. My coach was kind enough to give me a few days to go see him. It was difficult. Very difficult.
“To be honest I dealt with the thing with my dad as best as I could. My performances didn’t stray. I always had the belief that he’d be okay. Eventually everything else worked out and I am just very thankful that he’s okay now.”
After Mells’ breakthrough campaign with Adelaide there were expectations that the midfielder would keep progressing. Unfortunately, the next 12 months saw Mells play only six games in the 2016-17 campaign as his second season was riddled with illness and injury.
“The second year, I disregard it completely as I never had the chance to play at 100 per cent fitness or health,” he says.
“I had salmonella poisoning midway through preseason. It really messed me about and I lost six kilos. It’s one of the worst kind of poisonings you can get. I had to struggle through that. But at the same time, I went on a preseason camp to Malaysia with Adelaide and I got glandular fever as well.
“So, I had to deal with the salmonella poisoning that I already had that stays in your system for two or three months and then I had to deal with the glandular fever that can stay with you for anything from six to nine months.”
After the season from hell, Mells left Adelaide at the end of the 2016-17 season to pursue an opportunity in Holland but unfortunately the deal didn’t eventuate.
With the A-League squads full at the start of the 2017-18 campaign the 20-year-old was unable to find a club to call home and as a result has been without a club for several months.
With the January transfer window open the talented midfielder is looking to start the next chapter in his football career. Even with all the trials and tribulations, Mells has had to face he has no doubt he can produce the same form that led to double silverware only two seasons ago.
“I want to play football at the highest level I can,” he says.
“If it happens to be Greece, then it’s Greece. If it’s the A-League that’s not a problem. If it’s England, then it’s England. If it’s Holland, then fantastic. It’s just about getting back into professional football at a level that is respectable and is realistic for me also. That’s the most important thing. I just want to get game time and make as many appearances as I can and try and impress. That’s it to be honest.
“I know I can recover the same form as I had in Adelaide in my first year and I just want the opportunity to do so.”