Central Coast Mariners manager Alen Stajcic seems to be impressed with new signing Marco Urena, insisting that he believes that the 30-year-old’s experience will prove valuable off the pitch.
The former Gwangju FC man has also played for Brondby and Los Angeles FC, while boasting of having been a part of two World Cup squads for Costa Rica. Back in 2014, the hitman also scored the final goal for his country as they came from behind to register a 3-1 victory over an Uruguay side that had the likes of Edinson Cavani and Diego Forlan.
Meanwhile, the ex-Matildas boss has in the past come out saying that clubs being forced to rely more on their younger home grown players due to the pandemic will stand the country in good stead in the long run.
Now he believes that the character and experience Urena brings to the training ground will prove to be an excellent teacher to some of the young Mariners.
“A player like that obviously brings a lot of value on the field but for me the biggest value is off the pitch,” Stajcic said, according to the AAP.
“He’s such a humble person, easy-going and easy to talk to.
“As much as that’s influential for our whole group, for our young group it’s even more important to have a character like him around and pass on his knowledge to the next generation of young Australian players.”
The Mariners will take on Western Sydney Wanderers at the Central Coast Stadium on Tuesday.
