In Australian football, it’s rare to find a young player with so much international experience. For attacking midfielder Connor Kass, after stints in Barcelona, England and Brazil, his resumé reads like that of a much more mature player.
The 19-year-old Greek Australian is back in his hometown of Melbourne, recently coming off the back of playing for English team Stockport Sports FC and Spanish team UE Cornella.
On top of that, the former Dandenong Thunder youth was trained in Brazil under Ceramica Atelico, in Scotland at Heart of Midlothian Academy and had a brief stint at England’s Arsenal Soccer School.
Kass was even making a name for himself when he was still at school, securing the top goal scorer record at the Victorian State School Regional Championship in 2010.
Now, as he looks back on his Australian football start, he remembers an easier time.
“I was training three times as much than I was over here, twice as hard,” he says of the European football standard.
“They treat it as every day life, they enjoy it a lot more and they take it a lot more seriously, it’s not a part time job, especially in England.”
He’s been making calls and contemplating where his next step will take him. Briefly training with Melbourne Heart’s development squad in 2011, he hasn’t
ruled them out. Rather, he’s quite humble about where he goes.
Coming back at a time when the Victorian Premier League has just finished, he’s struggled to find a squad to train with in between talks with clubs.
However, like any aspiring football player, he hopes one day he can don the national colours and join the Socceroos in a World Cup battle.
It’s something his number one fan, his grandfather, would love to see.
Connor has Papou to thank for his growing football career.
“My papou was always talking football with me, always throwing a ball at my feet,” he remembers.
Watch this space.
