SEEMED like only yesterday when this fresh faced, pint-sized Kiwi was adjudged the best player in the A-League.

In fact, it was 3 years ago Marco Rojas won the Johnny Warren Medal. Ange Postecolgou was his coach at Melbourne Victory. A bit’s changed.

Rojas’ move to Stuttgart didn’t quite work out, right from the start. Loan moves to exotic locales such as Greuther Furth and FC Thun weren’t enough to keep him in Stuttgart’s good books.

So, he’s back it the A League.

He’d probably still get asked for ID, not that he’ll be frequenting Melbourne’s eclectic nightlife too much as he looks to propel Victory to great heights and himself back to the football he – and we – know he’s capable of.

Return daily to foxsports.com.au in the lead up to the A-League kick-off as Adam Peacock profiles the new names in the A-League in an exclusive preview series.

JAMES HOLLAND: What it’s like to see what you love start to drift

Marco Rojas of the Melbourne Victory. Source: Getty Images

Peacock: Is it a weird feeling, in a sense… you’ve come back to the same club after a few years away, so it’s not like going to a new club?

Rojas: A little bit of that. It’s a good feeling though, a nice feeling especially how it didn’t go how I wanted it to over there so I’m happy to be back amongst people I know.

It’s impossible to give it, of course, but if there was one bit of advice you could give yourself 3 years ago what would it be?

That is a good question. Be a bit more patient, I guess. I was young and sometimes you want to play and have everything as quick as possible, so my younger self could have done with a bit more patience.

Patient when you got there to Germany, or patient before you left?

Nah, over there. I still think I left at a good time, had a good year after winning a couple of individual awards and thought I was ready to go. Think when I was over there, just a few situations I could have dealt with better.

Didn’t you break your foot as soon as you got there?

Yeah I injured my foot in the second training session (with Stuttgart), it wasn’t clear what I’d done, there was just a bit of bruising so I ploughed on and after a week we played our first friendly game and I told the doc it wasn’t getting any better, had another scan and it was fractured.

How long did it linger, and how much did it cost you?

It was annoying. There were times that I went back and thought that it was gone, but still had issues after. Think altogether it was 4, 5 months. By that time the coach (Bruno Labbadia) who had brought me in had been excused of his duties (pleasant Kiwi for: ‘given the arse’). Wasn’t ideal, but its Europe, pretty cut throat.

Stuttgart – big expectations, supporter base – when you’re going through that, does a club like that do everything they can do help you, given their investment in you, or were you just another number in a big squad?

It’s difficult to say. I was an investment for them, so they did everything they could, but because of the type of business it is over there, when a player gets injured, there are 2 or 3 players ready to step up into the gap you left. But yeah they looked after you as well as a big club out here in Australia.

You went on loan a few times, including Switzerland’s FC Thun. I’m not just saying this given your slight resemblance to a central character, by it sounds more like a place in Lord of the Rings. How was that?

Ha… which character?! Think I can guess.

Yeah, sorry, couldn’t help it... but that was two years after you went, and you finally got some game time…

Yeah I had a tough couple of years in Germany, finally able find a place where I could get a lot of game time. Spent a good year and a half playing, getting European experience, very important time for me.

(After his loan ended at Thun, Rojas went back to Stuttgart, and next thing he knew, he was a free agent after his contract was terminated by mutual consent)

Marco Rojas of the Victory is congratulated by team mates. Source: Getty Images

Tell us, for the uninitiated, what does ‘contract terminated by mutual consent’ mean. You going to them for permission, or them coming to you? How does it exactly work?

I spoke to the first team coach at the start of pre-season (new man Jos Luhukay), I wanted to know what he thought of me and it wasn’t the greatest chat, wasn’t the greatest start but I wanted to stay in Europe so told myself I was going to prove that I was good enough to be there. I talked to him again a few weeks after that, and it wasn’t good. Just not good chats. It wasn’t even looking like I was going to get a chance once that was clear they didn’t want me to stay, then I didn’t want to stay at that point. So we decided to mutually terminate the contract.

(3 weeks after that happened, the boss who didn’t rate Rojas - Jos Luhukay – mutually terminated his own contract with Stuttgart after a blow up with the sporting director at the club. Odd, huh?)

So how’d you end up back in Melbourne?

Had a look at the options over there, and been a tough few seasons so there wasn’t a lot but we thought it would be good for me to get back on the right track, to be somewhere a bit more familiar, get back to the type of football I’d been playing before. It was an easy decision in the end.

The ambitions of getting back to Europe. How do you bring that up with the club that you love, and they love you, but in the back of everyone’s mind is if this goes well, he’s going off to test himself again. Is everyone on the same page there?

Yeah I believe so. They understand that I’m still only 24 still got a few more years. They know I’m ambitious and want to push myself as hard as I can, but given that I understand I’m back here and just focus on that. Really want to produce, concentrate on the season and do well because it wouldn’t be right to be think beyond that.

Marco Rojas of the Victory celebrates scoring a goal. Source: Getty Images

Anything changed about the joint in the 3 years you’ve been gone?

Pretty much the same, stadium the same, bit of a turnaround with people, players, staff but it was nice to see the familiar faces and nice getting to know everyone else.

Bet you can’t wait to get out in front of 50,000 people in a Derby, most chanting your name, as opposed to Greuther Furth reserves?

Oh yeah, looking forward to getting back on AAMI Park and Etihad, where the first Derby is. Be an amazing night, bring back memories and looking forward to putting on a show.

Look forward to seeing that show, welcome back, good luck.

Thank you very much.