Socceroos midfielder Connor Metcalfe joked the Brisbane Roar must be “kicking themselves” after prematurely cashing out their sell-out clause for Australian young gun Lucas Herrington.
However the A-League club insisted on Monday it should be celebrated for helping to identify and develop a player of Herrington’s calibre.
The 18-year-old Queenslander, who currently represents the Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer, became the youngest Australian to start a World Cup match during last week’s 0-0 draw against Paraguay at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. The centre back contributed a team-high ten defensive interventions to help the Socceroos keep a clean sheet, which proved enough for Australia to qualify for the knockouts.
He will almost certainly keep his spot in the starting XI for Australia’s Round of 32 match against Egypt in Dallas, which commences on Saturday at 4am AEST.
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Herrington has been linked with a move to La Liga champions Barcelona, where he’s predicted to fetch a price of somewhere between $23 million to $30 million, according to the
CIES Football Observatory. The current Australian record is Leicester City’s $26 million purchase of Harry Souttar from Stoke City in 2023.
“I’m just trying to stay present and really enjoy this moment,” Herrington responded when asked about the transfer speculation last week.
“It’s my first one, hopefully first of many, but it doesn’t come around very often.
“I’m really just trying to put my best forward and work hard, and we’ll see what comes after it.”
“But I’m just fully focused on the World Cup and the team at the moment.”
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Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Metcalfe praised Herrington’s calmness and maturity, claiming that “nothing really fazes him”.
“It’s pretty wild, to be honest… he never looks nervous,” he said
“I’m not nervous when he has the ball… sometimes if a young player is playing, a lot of the other boys can be nervous they’re going to make a rash decision, but he’s calm on the ball.
“He’s dealing with all the hype and press really well, he’s very level-headed and a nice guy, and that will help him a lot in his next stage.”
In January, Herrington signed for Colorado following an 18-month stint at the Brisbane Roar, with the A-League club selling him for about $1 million.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the Roar negotiated a 20 per cent sell-on clause with Colorado, which they recently cashed out for about $530,000.
If Herrington’s rapid rise continues and the deal with Barcelona comes to fruition, the A-League club’s decision to choose a short-term cash injection over holding out for a bigger sum could cost millions.
“They’ll probably be kicking themselves,” Metcalfe laughed when informed of the sell-on clause.
The Roar, however, responded on Monday, ultimately confirming the figures reported but declaring the story was being told “without the full picture.”
Read their full statement below:
A lot has been said recently about Brisbane Roar reaching an agreement with Colorado Rapids over Lucas Herrington’s sell-on fee. Much of it has been told without the full picture. We want to set out exactly what happened, and why it matters for this football club.
The conversation started with Colorado Rapids approaching the Roar with a proposal to buy out the sell-on percentage the club held on Lucas at an increased valuation. As with any decision of this size, the matter was taken to the club’s ownership group, as
our governance requires. After reviewing the proposal, ownership directed the club to negotiate and reach an agreement. That is the process that was followed, properly and in full.
What has been missing from the coverage is the part that matters most. How did the Roar come to hold a sell-on stake worth this much in the first place?
Lucas Herrington was not bought. He was identified in the Football Queensland pathway, developed and backed into professional football by this club. We supported him through our pathway, gave Lucas his opportunity in the professional game, and built his value
to the point where clubs overseas were interested, after Lucas had played less than 15 professional matches. The transfer itself was a record for the club and the hard work to ensure a sell-on fee was added to the deal further protected the time put into Lucas
by numerous coaches and support staff. In total, Lucas Herrington’s transfer has now returned more than AUD$1.5 million to Brisbane Roar.
He is not the exception. He is the latest in a run of talented young Queenslanders to progress. Over the past three years alone, the players this club has developed and sold have brought in more than AUD$3 million in transfer fees. To put that figure in context,
across the entire history of Brisbane Roar before this period, the club had earned circa AUD$500,000. Furthermore, sell-on fees were not present in any deal transacted by the club prior to this period.
That is not luck. It is a deliberate strategy. Identify Queensland talent early, develop it properly, give it a genuine professional platform, and structure deals so the club shares in a player’s future. The same pathway that produced Lucas is producing the
next group behind him, and every dollar it earns goes back into the football club. This model, one shared by clubs around the A-League is often forgotten and not covered in totality by wider media who would rather push a certain narrative and headlines that
return clicks.
We understand supporters want to see the Roar hold and build its best young players. So do we. We started on the path of heavily backing young, Queensland talent three years ago and the fruits of that path are already be produced. It is path that we will continue
for many years to come.
We could not be prouder of Lucas and everything he has gone on to achieve. He carried this badge, he earned his move, and Brisbane Roar will share in his journey for a long time to come. In the immediate future, we wish both him and the CommBank Socceroos the
very best in their upcoming World Cup Round of 32 clash against Egypt this weekend.