Ansell spent his whole professional career at Melbourne Victory since his high school days and felt the time was right to try his luck overseas.

The 23-year-old was frustrated with severe foot injuries in recent years but says his body “is in the best shape it’s ever been at the moment”.

Tondela are based in the Viseu District with a stadium which accommodates just 5000 fans and have spent just two season’s in Portugal’s top flight, avoiding relegation on both occasions.

Ansell flew to Portugal on Wednesday and felt it was the right time to test himself in Europe and make a case to Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou, whom he played under at Victory from 2012 – 2013.

“I chose Portugal because it’s a tough league,"Ansell told FourFourTwo. "If you are doing well, you’ll be a step closer to getting a call-up to the national team. 

“The main reason coming here is for the football, seeing how things go and really pushing to try break into the Socceroos in the next couple of years.

“Personally I’ve always been pretty confident in my ability, I never go out there thinking ‘I’m not as good as these players’ and hopefully that mentality will help me while I’m here.

“It’s going to be tough, the football is going to be different so the sooner I adapt to it and get used to the way they play over here, the better it will be for me.

“The goal for any player is to play at the highest level they can, so I think you always dream of going to play in Europe to see how far you can go and this is the first step for me coming here.”

Ansell represented Australia as a kid

Ansell has achieved many things in his career already, a 2015 A-League Premiership and Championship and represented Australia as a teenager with the Joeys, Olyroos and Young Socceroos.

The centre-back said his agent Vlado Bozinovski was influential after his time spent playing for four Portuguese clubs.

Bozinovski played six games for the Socceroos and is based in Portugal, while his brother John lives in Melbourne.

Ansell was grateful for the connections he had and feels he has made a great call leaving Australia at 23.

“It’s a pretty good situation to be in to be honest,” he said.

“I haven’t really been brought out here and left alone, Vlado’s been with me every day at the moment which makes it a lot easier. It hasn’t been a hard transition.

“It wasn’t a matter of ‘I want to go to Europe now’, it’s been this mentality where when the time is right, when I think I’m ready to go and give it a shot, then we’ll be ready.

“Vlado and I thought this was the best time to give it a shot and you never know how things are going to go.”

 


Ansell is also fully aware of the spread of talent in Primeira Liga, with a total of 10 players in the league being selected for Portugal’s national team in the 2017 Confederations Cup.

FC Porto’s Iker Casillas and Benfica’s Julio Cesar are among some of the big names in the league.

He is yet to start the pre-season and does not know what number he will be wearing on the back of his jersey yet but is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s (Tondela) a small club in Portugal but they’re trying to create a whole new atmosphere in their club, in the team and to stay in the first division for a while,” Ansell said.

“There has been some big players in the league that have come out of Portugal and you see how well they do in the youth ranks.

Ansell leaves childhood club and is ready for a new chapter in Portugal. By Ashley Perez Photography

 “You never know (what the feeling will be like) until you face them (big stars), players like that in the league who’ve played at the highest level and a keeper (Ederson) just got transferred to Manchester City.

“They develop their players really well and all that has been a factor behind why I chose to come here. It’s an exciting new challenge really and I’m really eager to see how I go.”