{"id":47862,"date":"2026-07-10T05:25:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:25:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/47862\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T05:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T05:25:09","slug":"okon-engstler-discusses-future-after-bundesliga-transfer-talk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/47862\/","title":{"rendered":"Okon-Engstler discusses future after Bundesliga transfer talk"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sydney FC midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler says he\u2019s more motivated than ever to take his career to the next level following his impressive World Cup campaign with the Socceroos.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old is back in the Harbour City after shining for the Socceroos at the FIFA World Cup in North America.<\/p>\n

One of four Isuzu UTE A-League players included in Head Coach Tony Popovic\u2019s squad, Okon-Engstler played in three of the Socceroos\u2019 four matches at the tournament, including a starring role in the 2-0 win over T\u00fcrkiye.<\/p>\n

TRANSFER CENTRE: Isuzu UTE A-League 2026-27 Transfer Centre: Your club\u2019s moves<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Paul Okon-Engstler #24 of Australia heads the ball<\/p>\n

As a result of that eye-catching display in Australia\u2019s opening game of the tournament Okon-Engstler has now been heavily linked with a move to the Bundesliga, with football transfer guru Fabrizio Romano even reporting a deal to take the 21-year-old to FC Koln is close to completion.<\/p>\n

But before any potential move is finalised the young midfielder has been back at Sydney FC\u2019s Sky Park training facility as the club begins it\u2019s preparations for their Australia Cup Round of 32 clash with Bayswater City.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just makes me even more grateful that I was able to experience this, because it\u2019s not guaranteed,\u201d Okon-Engstler said, when speaking via Sydney FC.<\/p>\n

\"\"Arda Guler #8 of Turkiye shoots while Paul Okon-Engstler #24 of Australia attempts to block<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s never guaranteed. You don\u2019t know what\u2019s going to happen if it\u2019s your first or last World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, yeah, it gives me so much motivation to just go back to (the) club and just to keep improving every day, and to try to play at the highest level every week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it motivates you so much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still haven\u2019t processed it fully. I think it\u2019ll take a long time to process, but yeah, it was honestly the experience of my life, something that I\u2019ll never forget.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to represent my country on the highest stage at a World Cup, I think, yeah, there\u2019s no better feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sydney FC have been busy re-shaping their squad ahead of the 2026-27 Isuzu UTE A-League campaign under Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo.<\/p>\n

Academy product Jake Hollman<\/a> has returned to the club on a three-year deal following a stint in the UK with EFL side Walsall whilst the club has also signed Gabriel Popovic<\/a> from Perth Glory.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sydney FC midfielder Paul Okon-Engstler says he\u2019s more motivated than ever to take his career to the next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":47863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1264,1417,1418,152,247,24641],"class_list":["post-47862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sydney","tag-a-league-men","tag-a-leagues","tag-almfeatured","tag-news","tag-sydney","tag-transfer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}