“As a football fan,it should never have happened,” Brosque said. “I am genuinely upset at all three parties involved. I am upset at Sydney FC,I am unhappy with Ninkovic,and I am unhappy with the Wanderers.”
When the 37-year-old Serbian announced his intention to leave Sydney FC in an Instagram post on June 4,no one was more surprised than the Sky Blues’ hierarchy. An offer to the veteran star was still on the table,as was the promise of a long-term coaching job with the club’s academy.
However,a condition of Sydney’s contract offer was that Ninkovic would be required to gain Australian citizenship,so freeing up a visa-player spot - and that is what eventually sent him west.
“The fact the club based the deal on whether he’d become a citizen or not is ludicrous to me,” Brosque said. “Ninkovic gave so much to the club and vice-versa. It should not have gotten to this point.”
By the time Ninkovic went public with his grievances,the whispers within football circles of a move to Western Sydney had become deafening. Concerned about the damage it would do to Ninkovic’s reputation with Sydney FC,Brosque reached out to his former teammate.
“My angle was that he needed to protect that[legacy],he needed to worry about that and think about that when he finishes football. If he had an issue with the club,it should have stayed that way,” he said.