Goalkeeper Jose Bello Amigo Serans returned to Sydney last year to join Marconi in the NSW Premier League.

After nine seasons in Spain's second tier with clubs such as Racing Ferrol and Poli Ejido it was the right time to come home for the Galician-born Aussie and his Spanish partner.

The global recession had hit Spanish football harder than most. While big guns like Barcelona and Real Madrid barely feel such financial ructions, many of the more modest clubs have since gone into receivership.

And it's left many footballers in Spain searching for new horizons.

One such player is Alberto Manga. Last week he slipped into Sydney to train with Bello Serans' club Marconi and possibly Sydney Olympic, revealed exclusively by au.fourfourtwo.com.

The Catalan born 29-year-old hopes to gain a short-term contract with either club to put him in the A-League shop window for next season.

"Here they have beautiful stadiums, great infrastructure, good fans and such an amazing country. I want to have an experience here and try to participate in the league," he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

Bello Serans, now 31, moved from Sydney nine years ago after a modest career on the fringes of the old NSL. He began his Spanish career with Racing Ferrol in 2001 - the same club his father played for before emigrating to Australia.

In 2005, Belo Serans moved to Poli Ejido. But his experiences in his final year in Spain an example of the problems felt in Spanish football and why a number of their players could start to look to the A-League.

After Poli Ejido were relegated two seasons ago, they cut 14 of their playing roster. Amigo was one of those to go despite an offer to play on a reduced contract.

"News didn't come, then the club decided to fire some of us players, so we went to court," Bello Serans explained to au.fourfourtwo.com.

"So I was faced with this uncomfortable situation of the club making us train at midday. It was unfortunate after three years at the club."

The Aussie and his teammates won the court case and the club went into receivership and is being administered now by a judge.

The loophole in Spanish law means the clubs don't have to pay their players immediately. Rather it's over a much longer period of time. This isn't good for players but great for the clubs.

 "In Spain over a long period of time there was a massive, huge, construction boom," Bello Serans explained.

"A lot of these developers had special agreements with the councils. For example, in Poli Ejido, it was a town with a lot of development.

"The curious side of all this is that after winning my court case, 22 members of parliament who were involved with the club are now in jail for corruption.

"The council were 54% owners of the club and were accused of stealing 250 million euros from taxes and money laundering.

"Many of the investors in the club were developers who allegedly got kickbacks on land and other things being waivered. The the recession hit, no-one was buying and the construction boom bust."

Last year, seven clubs disappeared from the Segunda Division B. It's meant a number of players in Spain are looking for new clubs.  

For Bello Serans though, he is just happy to be back in a stable football environment.

While back in Sydney, he is combining semi-pro football with a new business alongside friend and footballer Stacy Alogdellis. They have launched a pre-schoolers football academy called Soccerjoeys.

He added: "I'd been in Spain nine years and the horizon was just blackness for me.

"But I feel fortunate now and I take every day as it comes."