VfB Stuttgart’s 23-year-old winger and New Zealand international Marco Rojas will stay on loan at Swiss club FC Thun for the 2015/16 season, after a successful initial spell on loan to Urs Fischer’s men since January.
Rojas is yet to live up to the initial hype
Having found his first team chances at Stuttgart limited by competition; the likes of Filip Kostic, Martin Harnik and Timo Werner were all picked before Rojas in his position; as well as struggling with injury since his move to Germany from Melbourne and a less than impressive loan spell at Fürth, Rojas will be hoping that another string of positive performances with Thun will help bring him back into the equation for first team action with Alex Zorniger’s men.
Stuttgart initially beat off competition from the likes of Liverpool and Juventus to secure Rojas’ signature in the summer of 2013, at a time when the New Zealander was dubbed the “Kiwi Messi”. Unfortunately, thanks to managerial changes; in his two years at Stuttgart, he’s been coached by Bruno Labbadia, Thomas Schneider, Huub Stevens (twice) and Armin Veh; Rojas has never quite received the chance to impress for the Swabians.
Thun seems to be the new beginning he needed
At Thun, that’s been somewhat different, with Rojas starting 13 of a possible 18 matches for the club in the Raiffeisen Super League since linking up with them in January. Having finished in fourth place in the Swiss league this season, Thun have qualified for the Europa League second qualifying round.
He’s also finally shaken off the injuries that plagued his first season in Germany, with a broken foot and an inflamed knee severely limiting the New Zealand international’s game time for both the first and second sides at Stuttgart.
Whether or not Rojas will once more reach the level he reached at Melbourne, performances that received the fanfare which carried Rojas over to Europe, remains to be seen, but certainly, with more minutes under his belt in Switzerland, Rojas’ career can begin in earnest again.