The 32-year-old former Victory, Jets and Hajduk Split defender, currently playing for Melbourne Knights in the VPL, is said to be closing in on a deal abroad.

The move could be to Asia with South China believed to be in the mix for his services.

With the player over a long-term injury and playing pain free, his form at club level is returning as the Knights zoom up the ladder.

But the former Australian national team defender (capped six times), UEFA Champions League and Europa League player says with maturity comes understanding and he’s apologetic for upsetting some people with his earlier comments.

LJUBO HITS BACK AT AFL

SEE OUR DAY WITH LJUBO PIC SPECIAL FROM HIS DAYS IN NEWCASTLE

How you going Ljubo?
Yeah, great. Before I left I wanted to basically tell people where I’m at and it's all positive, it's nothing scandalous it's nothing controversial. It's basically me forgiving myself for sabotaging my career or my life up until now. It's taken me 15 years of a career, 15 years of extreme highs and extreme lows to realise what I was doing to myself and the conflict I kept bringing to my life and that was all born out of my ego.

I didn't realise what was going on until my last destination, a club that I loved more than any part of the world more than any: Hajduk-Split. And when I finally got rejected there in the end it wasn't due to me speaking out it was for the fact that the club couldn't pay me for six months and I had a few injuries so in the end it was for a variety of reasons, and I finally held my breath and I didn't say anything when I left and I tried to understand why this kept happening. Why, why?

It took me a while, and a lot of deep reflection, a lot of time on my own, and finally by doing yoga every day I calmed my mind down. I finally stopped and reconnected to who I really am, and with the aid of meditation I just realised I'm to blame, no-one else, I'm the one who's got conflict in my life, I’m the one who took on every ego that crossed my path. I'm the one who had the bigger ego who thought he could take everyone on - it isn't necessary. If you live your life like that there's always going to be turmoil.

If you want to be angry, if you want to be negative, it's in your face all the time and you can find it anywhere. It finally hit me about a month ago, and since then life's been really positive and really happy. I definitely felt the need to say this publicly, because I’ve said a lot publicly and I needed to say that I've forgiven myself and that along the way I've upset people, caused angst, or caused anger. I've caused controversy, I've said a lot of things that were from the heart but they were misguided at times.

I'm just being open and honest. I was misguided as in the fact that I genuinely believe in a lot of the things that I've said, but my approach and my demeanour when it comes from a place of anger and negativity, everything is lost in the words, everything's lost because people focus on that.

If I had been coming from a place of kindness and compassion, well, then it would of resonated much more for people and I realise that now and I apologise to whoever may have been rubbed up the wrong way along the way, in my journey.

But at the same time, I feel like I'm here to create awareness and just be positive. I was always a nice guy to my mates and to the people close to me, and somewhere along the line with rejection, outwardly I became the guy who I'm not. I'm glad that I'm going back to where I was and I'm glad I found myself.

How’s everything on the park?
Yeah, well as far as the body goes and soccer goes, it's been fantastic. I've been with the Knights for the last three months and I've played the last seven or eight games in a row. I'm very thankful to the president down there and obviously Andrew Marth and Frank Juric for welcoming me with open arms, along with the whole team. We slowly but surely gelled and we've been having great results, we've keeping a lot of clean sheets, we've been winning quite a few games, racing up the table and we're currently sitting second As long as the team stays together, I don't see why we can't win the title for the Melbourne Knights fans and the club, because that's where they deserve to be - on top.

Although you might not be there when they lift that trophy if they do indeed?
Well, currently there's interest and it's Asia, America and the Middle East. But to be honest, it's going to have to be an amazing offer to pull me away from the Knights before the season's finished. There's only a couple of months to go and I love the club, I always have, and I love the boys and everyone down at the club because it's a family club. It always has been. It used to be a bigger family, unfortunately now it's maybe a slightly smaller family - but everyone's welcome with open arms and I can't walk away from that environment that easily.

And what's the future for you? How do you see the future panning out for you and your life?
Look. I just seek happiness and I just seek calmness and I just seek peace and you know, goals that I've got, aspirations, ambitions, time will reveal all of that but at the moment, I'm just focusing on being true to my inner being, which is just being happy.

What does happiness mean to you?
Everything really. I guess we've all got a choice on the lives that we decide to lead and the people we want to be. I chose for a long time to be an angry, young guy, and therefore I attracted anger back in to my life and negativity. I'm choosing now not to be and so therefore happiness is just being. It's just enjoying the moment, stay in the moment. Not thinking too far ahead just basically being present every day in every conversation in every step you take walking down the road.

And being back in Melbourne, has that been a positive for you?
Yeah it has, because Melbourne traditionally for me has been, I guess, home base but at the same time, one of the most chaotic places for me in my life just because I've got all my friends here and I've got all the distractions a young man could ever want, need or desire. So to finally be at peace and calm here, I feel as though if I've achieved that then i can definitely be at peace and calm anywhere.

That anywhere could be in Asia or could be in the USA or even the Middle East. Do you have a preference at all?
I gotta feeling that it's going to be Asia first, but after that, it could be anywhere. It's taken me a while to get the body right after being at Hajduk and things going a little bit downhill with not being paid and being shunned out of the team because they basically wanted to get rid of us older guys on bigger contracts. It took me a while to recover, my body's great now. My knees are great and it took about six months of a slow build-up of rehab but I feel great, I'm playing every game, I'm backing up, there's no residual soreness, or aches and pains. I feel as though I'm going to play for the next five years, at least.

Take us back to Hajduk Split. Aside from what happened with the payments, just give us a flavour of what it's like to be at a club like that and the Torcida?

The Torcida, that club, I love with all my heart. The people are what make that club. The region is what makes it. It's everyone's blood, sweat and tears for the last 100 years that make that club what it is. There is so much emotion, so much passion, that it's impossible for me to describe unless you go to a game when they're playing their arch rival Dinamo or they're playing in Europe and you experience the full stadium.

Or you walk through that city on game day or any other day of the week, the city is covered in club and Torcida murals, every second wall has got the emblem, has got the Torcida avatar. I only played 15 games all up including friendlies, but in amongst that I got to play against Dinamo, I got to play against Stoke in the Europa League, I got to play in full houses and I got to wear the captain’s armband

I got to experience what it's like to play for my dream club and for many young boys dreams of Croatian background and I don't regret one minute. I don't regret one second. I look back on my time there with great fondness and from day one i connected with the fans because I went there for less money than I could of gotten anywhere else. I rejected other offers just so that I could play with that club, and I guess that resonated with the fans and it always does when you play with your heart. I'll eventually go back there and i'll go to the southern part of the ground called and i'll be jumping up and down with Torcida because that's where I belong, I'm a fan.

And that reminds us all of scene with you in Newcastle with the fans as well, jumping up and down. You really do connect with the hardcore fans who just love the game.

I guess anyone who's extremely passionate, at times fanatical, and is unafraid to live life with their heart on their sleeve and dare to dream, I connect with automatically. And quite often they are the fanatical supporters, the diehard, the hard-core people that people don't really understand and want to understand. But you don't have to, you just have to let yourself be free and be in the momen and enjoy it for what it is.

You must look at fans like the Wanderers fans in Sydney and realise that they have a similar passion to the Torcida, not as big but similar. Your thoughts?

Look, I watched from afar this year and I was really pleased that the FFA, Frank Lowy and David Gallop and obviously everyone else involved finally put a team in the west. It was a great decision and a great move because that's the heart and soul of football in this country. You go to that crowd and you ask those kids, adults, men, women and children and at some stage or another it would of been Croatia supporters, Marconi supporters, Sydney Olympic Supporters, Parramatta Melita supporters, APIA Leichhardt.

They would of come from every different club in the west, and it's just a beautiful way that the league transformed and unite them all as one under one umbrella and it can basically blow away everyone's mind in this country and what soccer means to them and the way you can support, and it can be completely positive. I know there were times when certain sections of the media try to be negative about them, but that's just a little bit of their misunderstanding. If you go there on game day there's no way you couldn't get swept away with the emotion and the energy they create.

And how well do you know Tony Popovic and what was your take on his first season as a senior coach?

Popa and I were briefly together during my national team days. Popa as a player was one of the biggest professionals I ever came across and obviously he transferred that into a coaching career and obviously with “Tezza” [assistant coach Ante Milicic]  there as well, they are two great guys who connected with their teams and it was obvious the team played for each other. No one expected them to do anything last year and especially in the beginning a lot people were questioning the direction possibly or questioning why they were brought in so quickly with lack of time to prepare, but they stuck true to what they know and that's something that they've built up over the last 25 years of their careers as footballers.

To me and to people who know Popa and Tezza it's no real surprise. I think you only have to meet them once to realise that they're both going to be successful in their careers irrespective of whether they coach in Australia, or go back overseas but people like them and Ange, Graham Arnold, they've challenged themselves to learn and it's obvious when you watch their teams play that they understand the game of football.

Anything else you wanted to say?

 I just want to say sorry to every Australian of every colour, race, background, denomination, sexuality for offending you in anyway. It was never my intention. I wasn't being true to myself and therefore I was unnecessarily causing conflict in my life and in no way shape or form that I blame anyone but myself for what I experienced up until now.

I just hope that people understand and that I've forgiven myself for it over time. My actions will speak louder than my words.I've said so much i feel the need to say sorry as well.