Soccer: Reid all about it

Ricki Herbert sees Reid as a central defender first and foremost. Photo / Getty Images

It's all hypothetical, of course, but Winston Reid is valued at €1.25 million on the transfer market.

That's not a lot by world standards - Cristiano Ronaldo was sold to Real Madrid last year for an astonishing €94 million - but it is a significant sum for a New Zealand player.

All Whites skipper Ryan Nelsen is rated New Zealand's the most valuable player on transfermarket.co.uk at €3.5 million while Rory Fallon is reputedly worth €1.5 million, Chris Killen €1 million and Chris Wood €600,000.

It's not known how these estimates are assessed but it shows how significant it is for Reid to throw his lot in with New Zealand.

At 21, the centre-back is a player of enormous potential. He made his first team debut with FC Midtjylland in the Danish Superligaen at 17, has played for the Danish under-18, under-20 and under-21 sides and was considered an outside chance to make the Denmark squad for June's World Cup.

He's already been linked with Italian Serie A clubs Fiorentina, Palermo and Sampdoria and expects to be playing in one of the top European leagues sooner rather than later.

The timing of his commitment to New Zealand might seem curious, especially with the World Cup less than three months away, but Reid says it played little part in his decision.

"Of course, it's a bonus to come home to New Zealand and maybe play at the World Cup but it wasn't the major factor," Reid says with a slightly neutralised Kiwi accent from his home in Denmark.

"It was a gut feeling I had that it was time to play for New Zealand, and I'm also a Maori.

"I had a good talk with my friends, parents and family in New Zealand, and I talked to a couple of coaches up here and weighed up my options. It's a decision I made that will affect me for the rest of my life. If I wasn't able to give 110 per cent for Denmark, then I couldn't do my job properly. I can do it 110 per cent for New Zealand.

"I love both countries and it's been a joy for me to play for Denmark but I am really looking forward to playing for the All Whites."

It's not a decision that is universally popular. He's copped considerable criticism from the Danish media, especially as a week before committing to New Zealand he was reported as saying his future lay with Denmark. But, again, that merely shows how highly Reid is rated as a player.

The All Whites have benefited considerably from a Fifa rule change which allowed players to switch countries even if they had represented another at youth league but as long as they hadn't made their full international debut.

Fallon, Michael McGlinchey and Tommy Smith all fitted into that category and all four can expect to play important roles in South Africa.

Reid seemed lost to New Zealand football. He knocked back an approach to play for his country of birth in 2007.

He was ensconced in the Danish system and perhaps seduced by the idea of a glittering international career.

Herbert hadn't heard from him since, and Reid hadn't heard from Herbert... until a conversation was arranged earlier this month.

Reid will be picked for the 23-man World Cup squad, sight unseen, because of his pedigree.

Players of his ilk are rare in this country and he is in line to make his debut against Australia in Melbourne on May 24 when, he says, he hopes to "give those Aussies a whack on the nose".

He is a centre-back by trade. It's a position New Zealand have relative strength in with Nelsen, Ivan Vicelich, Ben Sigmund and Smith.

Herbert sees him as a central defender first and foremost but there's an option to play him at the troublesome right-back position or even in a defensive midfield role.

"I played a little bit of midfield through the youth ranks but my main position is centre-back," Reid says.

"I have played right-back a couple of times for the under-21s. If Ricki asked me to do that job for the team, I would give it a go. I will do what the coaches tell me to do. I'm willing to work hard for the team."

Reid left New Zealand aged 11 when his mother Prue moved to Denmark to live with her new Danish partner. He had shown talent from an early age, convincing a coach at Takapuna he was good enough to play junior football when he was four even though five was the minimum age.

Football was his passion but it was a massive upheaval when he moved to the other side of the world.

"It was hard, especially the first six months," he admits. "It took me a year-and-a-half to learn the language.

"I'm an Auckland boy. When you come from a city of over a million people to one where there's only 40,000... it's a different world, especially with the language.

"The winters here can be also be quite cold. It's nice to get back to New Zealand every December.

"I don't know if I would have developed in the same way I have up here [if I had stayed in New Zealand]. I played all of my life down there and I was pretty good for my age but when I changed to Denmark it helped me out a lot. The level was much higher."

He played youth football for SUB Sönderborg before signing his first professional contract with FC Midtylland at 15. He was a regular in the first team just over a year later.

Reid knows a move to a higher league in Europe could be on the cards. Players usually say they don't take much notice of transfer talk but that's largely disingenuous. Any move to another league has massive repercussions on their career.

It's why Reid wants his next move to be the right one, whether it's Italy or elsewhere.

"If I can play in Italy, Germany, Holland, England, France, it doesn't matter to me," he says, "as long as the offer is right and the club believe in me and are going to give me some playing time.

"I don't want to go to a team, say in the [English] Premier League, and sit on the bench. I would rather go to Germany, Holland or Italy where the level is not as high but play every week and develop there.

"Where I am now, it's great because I have been playing regularly for the last three years. That's the most important thing for a young player. It's not about the money right now. If you're good enough, you will make good money."

His estimated transfer value suggests he can make a good living from football.

We're not likely to see Reid playing much in this country, in much the same way Nelsen hasn't been seen much here since playing in the Premier League.

Club commitments and a paucity of internationals outside of World Cup cycles makes that unlikely.

But we will now see him playing on the biggest stage of all - the World Cup - and few predicted that.

Winston Reid

* Full name: Winston Wiremu Reid

* Age: 21

* Height: 1.9m

* Position: centre back (can also play right back and centre midfield)

* Club: FC Midtjylland (Denmark)
Reid made his first-team debut for Midtjylland two weeks after his 17th birthday. He has played nearly 70 games in the Danish Superligaen as well as three Uefa Cup appearances (they beat Manchester City last season).