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Former Wellington Phoenix forward Callum McCowatt has joined Danish Helsingor on a two-year deal.
Fifteen months after showing All Whites forward Callum McCowatt at the club’s Danish headquarters, Helsingør co-owner Jordan Gardner finally got his man.
As revealed Stuff, the 21-year-old New Zealand international left Wellington Phoenix after just one season to head to Europe and join the recently promoted 1st Division club Helsingør.
Helsingør has two other New Zealand players on its roster, with McCowatt reuniting with former Western Suburbs teammates and fellow Football Academy graduates Ole Elijah Just and Dalton Wilkins.
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Just and Wilkins signed before last year’s U-20 World Cup in Poland, at the same time McCowatt was being courted by the club’s American owners.
READ MORE:
* All Whites forward Callum McCowatt leaves Wellington Phoenix for Europe
* Wellington Phoenix wants ‘main group’ to re-sign for 2020-21 season
* Olé Academy footballers Eli Just and Dalton Wilkins join the Danish club backed by the United States
Gardner said representatives from Helsingør even traveled to the World Cup in a final attempt to sign McCowatt before he returned to New Zealand to join Phoenix on a one-year contract.
“Callum is a very talented young player that we have been watching for several years. He was in Denmark with us last summer, but it wasn’t the right time to sign with us, ”Gardner said.
Jonathan DiMaggio / Getty Images
Phoenix forward Callum McCowatt celebrates after scoring against Western United.
Gardner is part of an American investment group that bought Helsingør 15 months ago with the aim of developing young talent and promoting the club to the highest level of the Danish football pyramid.
After recently winning promotion to 1st Division, which is one notch below the Danish Super League, they felt Helsingør were in a stronger position to sign McCowatt this time.
The Aucklander has signed a two-year contract.
“Our promotion to the Danish 1st division was an important factor,” he said. “Callum is an ambitious player who wants to play at the highest level in Europe.
“We have also created a good environment for young players to develop, and I think that was very attractive to Callum.
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“We saw a lot of video about Callum with the Phoenix this season and we were impressed with his game. She didn’t have a prolific season scoring goals, but she adjusted to the professional environment and physique of the A-League. “
Gardner, who fostered a relationship with the Ole Football Academy through the New Zealand organization’s ties to the Swedish club Torslanda, said he believed McCowatt, Just and Wilkins would have a better chance of showing themselves to the bigger clubs by having its headquarters in Europe.
“The biggest clubs in Europe are looking for data points that show that players will be successful in the future in Europe, and it is very difficult to make that assessment come from much weaker leagues abroad,” he said.
“I strongly believe that young players need to prove themselves in the smaller clubs in Europe before expecting to jump to bigger clubs.
“It is very difficult for young players from abroad to get first-team minutes in bigger clubs as well, so it can ultimately be detrimental to their development to sign with the ‘biggest’ club they can find.”
McCowatt is the second young All White to leave Phoenix for a European club since the conclusion of the 2019-20 A-League season, after Liberato Cacace signed with Belgian Pro League club Sint-Truiden.
