FC Goa has completed the signing of 27-year-old James Donachie on a year-long loan deal from A-League club Newcastle Jets. FC Goa has been the first Indian club to qualify for the AFC Champions League where the signing of an Asian player was much needed for the club to complete the 3+1 quota on the field.
Centre-Back James started his youth career at Brisbane Roar in 2010. He made his professional debut in the 2011-2012 season of A-League. After spending three-years with Brisbane Roar, he signed for Melbourne Victory in 2016. Later in 2018, he joined the Korean club Jeonnam Dragons. He returned to Australia & again joined with Melbourne Victory for the 2019-20 season. Recently he signed a contract of 3-year with Newcastle Jets.
Donachie(1.93m) is taller than former FC Goa’s Senegalese defender Mourtada Fall(1.91m). Having experience of playing in the AFC Champions League, he will be the key man in defence along with Spaniard Ivan Gonzalez. Till now he made 146 appearances for 3-clubs. His ability to play across the defensive line has been eye-catching.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, A-League clubs are facing heavy loss in revenue of clubs & are being forced to reduce the salary bills of players where players have been asked to take a pay cut of 30-50%. As a result, most A-League players having offers from India made a switch to the Indian Super League.
It’s no secret that Goa’s first choice for the Asian slot was Iranian International Roozbeh Cheshmi. But the deal doesn’t go through due to high wage expectations. Similarly, talks with Hadi Mohammadi broke where the wage expectations from him were no less than Cheshmi. Goa also had an option to sign the Indian International Sandesh Jhingan, but he made a choice to join ATK Mohun Bagan on a 5-year long deal.
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