All Whites midfielder Sarpreet Singh said he made the right decision to return to playing football in New Zealand after he was selected in the 26-man squad that will travel to the Fifa World Cup.
Singh left New Zealand and the Wellington Phoenix in 2019 to join German behemoths BayernMunich after impressive performances at the U-20 World Cup that same year, but struggled to make the first team during one of the most dominant periods in the club’s history.
He had loan spells at Nuremberg and Regensburg before a permanent transfer to fellow German club Hansa Rostock.
This was followed by a move to Portuguese outfit Leiria and then Serbian side FK TSC.
However, he made a return to the Nix in an attempt to secure more game time, a decision he says he doesn’t regret.
“I think at that time in my thoughts was to play games, I thought that was the best thing for me to make sure I can play games, and I think I would have given myself the best chance to do that,” Singh said.
Sarpreet Singh says he moved back to the Wellington Phoenix to secure more game time. Photo / Photosport
“But unfortunately, there was an injury, so I’ve dealt with these things before in my career, so it’s not the first time.
“I think I was better prepared for it, you can say, than maybe on other occasions.
“But yeah, I think I made the right decision at that time, and now obviously I didn’t play as much as I would have liked to, but that’s football.”
Singh suffered an MCL injury in his first game back in the A-League, but never felt he wouldn’t be fit in time for international football’s showpiece event.
“I think obviously when you first get injured, you think about what it is and especially with the knees, there’s some areas around the knee which can be quite brutal and it can go for a lengthy amount of time,” the midfielder explained.
“So that was my first concern initially, but once I got the scans done and found out about my injury, then I was relatively comfortable with the timeframes and, like I mentioned before, I didn’t do anything to push it.
“I took my time with it so that now I’m at this point where I don’t really worry about it and I’m fully involved in training, and now it’s just about getting my fitness levels up.”
Singh came on as a substitute in the Nix’s last game of the season, but is expected to be a key member of the All Whites starting XI at the tournament.
The All Whites face Iran, Egypt and Belgium in this summer’s tournament, starting on June 16 in Inglewood, California.
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