A product of the Wanderers Academy, Tass Mourdoukoutas says he’s delighted with the chance to continue his development at the club after signing a two-year senior contract with the Hyundai A-League team last week.
A product of the Wanderers Academy, Tass Mourdoukoutas says he’s delighted with the chance to continue his development at the club after signing a two-year senior contract last week.
Mourdoukoutas has become a familiar face in the Wanderers Academy’s first team having been part of the club’s Foxtel Y-League Championship winning team and NSW NPL 2 first grade team.
For Mourdoukoutas, the transition from youth to senior football has been greatly assisted by some friendships he’s made at the Wanderers Academy.
First-team player Keanu Baccus and former Wanderer Jonathan Aspropotamitis have been great sources of friendship and guidance for Mourdoukoutas, providing advice and tips to the talented young defender.
“I’ve spoken a lot to both Aspro (Jonathan Aspropotamitis) and Keanu actually and they’ve both been a really good help for me in the past year in helping me prepare for my contract,” said Mourdoukoutas.
“The boys basically said as long as you are working hard and you are following what the rest of the boys are doing you will be fine.”
Working hard has been a consistent mantra for Mourdoukoutas who has credited the hours spent in training and the guidance from senior players as the catalyst for his promotion to the Wanderers first team.
“I believe training hard is really important. As long as you are working and you see what the older players are doing then you will be fine,” said Mourdoukoutas.
“The experience in Wellington was hard to describe but even coming on for few short minutes was frantic but I really enjoyed that and it was good.
“I’m honoured to play for this club and I’m excited to get underway. It’s a really big moment for me.”
The central defender has also been part of a special group of players in the Academy that have been chosen on a number of occasions to represent the Wanderers on the world stage with the Young Socceroos.
For Mourdoukoutas, representing Australia at such a young age has only driven his passion further to one day play for the Socceroos.
“Any young footballer looks forward to playing for the Socceroos one day in their career and the Young Socceroos has been a good stepping stone,” explained Mourdoukoutas.
“The Young Socceroos is a good learning experience to play at that kind of Australian international competitive level and I really enjoy each time I meet up with the Young Socceroos and I look forward to what the future has in store.”
