The Aussie connection

I found an interesting post about the "Australian invasion" of Turkey at http://vliegendenederlander.blogspot.com, some sort of blog (in Turkish) about sport in general. The post, titled "Cevher Kangurular" (Precious Kangaroos - I think) I was interested in was written by someone whose tagline Flying Dutchman (no relation to our own Flying Dutchman Kanka) and talks about how Genclerbirligi have changed their sights when it comes to recruiting up-and-coming players.

Taking the news earlier this week that Mile Jedinak had signed for Gencler, Flying Dutchman points out that in the past Gencler used to source its promising players from Africa, then Belgium and later on South America and that it is now the Australian A-League that is the pool from which Ilhan Cavcav finds his new players.

The article points out that Nick Carle joined the team last year, only to move on to England after short-lived coach Bulent Korkmaz decided he didn't like him (the decision to let Carle go is one that Cavcav has since publicly regretted). This year we signed up Bruce Djite and James Troisi (unfortunately for the arguement's purposes, Troisi came from England's Newcastle and not the A-League) and now Jedinak.

The article then takes a look at why and answers its own question with a list of a number players who came from Australia and at what age they went over to Europe. I'll leave this quote in Turkish, it is self explanatory.

Brett Emerton'ı Feyenoord Sydney Olympic'ten 21 yaşında iken transfer etti, Harry Kewell Leeds United'a geldiğinde 17 yaşında bir Marconi Stallions oyuncusuydu, Mark Bresciano 19 yaşında iken Carlton FC'den Empoli'ye katıldı, Mark Viduka Melbourne Knights'dan Dinamo Zagreb'e transfer olduğunda 20 yaşındaydı, John Aloisi Avrupa'ya geldiğinde 17 yaşında Adelaide City'den ayrılmıştı

The point? Aussies are cheap if you get 'em young. My question is, for how long is Genclerbirligi prepared to actually hold onto its Aussies?