'Shove in the face': Socceroo Deng's parting shot at Japanese giants amid huge A-League interest

Former Olyroos skipper and Socceroos defender Thomas Deng has fended off an avalanche of A-League interest to target a new beginning in Japan after being released by J1 giant Urawa Red Diamonds.

Bruised but not broken by an injury-scarred 23-month spell with the Reds, Deng, 24, believes remaining in Asia’s paramount football market will position him best to fulfill his simmering Socceroos ambitions, rather than a return to the A-League.

His biggest challenge will be to convince suitors he’s fully fit after finally putting behind him an 11-month struggle with osteitis pubis he believes was perpetuated by the physicians at Urawa, who had him playing with the aid of pain killers before the club ultimately showed him the door at the end of November.

The experience has left the former Melbourne Victory defender “smarter and wiser”, as he fired a scathing parting shot to his former employers, for whom he made 21 appearances across two seasons.

"I feel a bit let down by what happened, especially when the club told me they weren’t going to re-sign me because of my injury,” Deng told FTBL.

“It just makes you realise you’ve got to look after yourself - not everybody always has your best (long-term) interests at heart.

“I put my body on the line for them but when it came time for them to look after me it was basically just a shove in the face.

“You realise quickly that’s football. It’s the way things run - it’s a business.

“It’s made me smarter and wiser and maybe less trusting. It’s shown me also that loyalty is not always reciprocated.”

Right from the outset, Deng felt intuitively that rest and a graduated recuperation would be the most efficacious way to treat the injury.

But that’s not how it panned out.

“I told the club doctor a long time back that I really shouldn’t be training and playing (to give it time to heal) but he didn’t listen to me and instead gave me pain killers,” he said.

“I kept playing with it and it just got worse until I told the club I wasn’t taking any more pain killers and just needed to get my body right.

“I’ve done that now and I’m using everything that’s happened as motivation for next year.”

Nairobi-born Deng, who is of South Sudanese extraction, has no doubt he will be a force again, even if it could mean trialling at a Japanese club to prove he’s shaken off the cobwebs of his injury.

A sizeable number of A-League clubs clearly believe so, with Deng confirming that several approaches have been made.

“I think just about every A-League club called my agent to try and get me back but I told him it’s not what I’m looking for at the moment,” Deng explained.

“I think it’s too early - I’ve only been away for two years. I really want to be pushing myself overseas.

“My body is back to 100 per cent now and I’m just looking for another club here in Japan. I think that’s the most likely scenario - my agent is now working trying to find a suitable fit for me.

“It’s not easy because I haven’t played in the last five months and a lot of clubs are a bit hesitant.

“I’ve missed a lot of football - but another huge ambition is to be back in the national team mix again, especially before the World Cup.”

Deng played all three group games for Australia’s U-23s at the Tokyo Olympics, but by his own admission was only operating at 70 per cent of his capacity as the groin injury lingered.

But he’s “buzzing again” now with the cloud finally lifted.

“Just being able to train and move again without that stiffness is great,” he said.

“I just couldn’t move the same as a normally do and it’s been a frustrating time. When you go into games and you know you’re struggling that’s the worst.

“I’m now just waiting for that opportunity to play again and hopefully have a full season with no injuries. I’ve gone backwards a bit but that’s football.”

A recent clampdown on foreigners entering Japan as a result of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant could work in Deng’s favour since he holds an existing visa.