Six months on from his departure from Adelaide to Korean club FC Seoul, Ben Halloran is back at the Reds.
He accrued just 60 minutes of game time whilst abroad – but he brings no regrets back to the club he says was “the only place I wanted to come to” after the overseas venture.
“I left in January for South Korea, it didn’t exactly go to plan,” Halloran said upon his Reds return.
“I made a decision about six or so weeks ago to cut ties there, I just wasn’t really getting a look in, I wasn’t enjoying it there.
“I think just hanging around for a pay check wasn’t sustaining enough for me.
“I decided to leave, took a bit of a break and reassessed where my head was at, and realised pretty quickly I really enjoyed my time here, and if I was to come back to Australia, Adelaide was pretty much the only place I wanted to come to.”
Halloran continued: “Leaving for South Korea I knew what was in store for me. I was aware of the challenge of going over there. I think the unfortunate thing in Korea was that it was kind of over before it started.
“I think the cultural challenges were fine, I enjoyed living in Seoul and I enjoyed (being) at the club – but playing was the biggest thing, I just didn’t really get much of a run – and that’s the most important thing.
“(No regrets), none at all. I think at the time it was an opportunity I couldn’t say no to. But as it goes in football, you don’t make the decisions whether you’re playing or not. You can only influence it so much, it’s someone else’s decision at the end of the day.”
Halloran, 30, returns to the club where he has scored 21 goals in 88 appearances across all competitions. He began the 2021-22 season operating off the right of Adelaide’s attack, making five appearances and scoring one goal before his departure to South Korea.
After severing ties with FC Seoul, the next question on Halloran’s mind became: where to next?
“(I had) a couple of other offers from other clubs,” he said. “It’s a negotiation process and there’s a few things to factor in but Adelaide’s tried and tested, it worked before here, I enjoy living here and the team hasn’t changed too much, Carl (Veart) is still the coach, so it was a bit of a no-brainer in the end.”
He added: “Adelaide is where I want to be and where I want to play. If there’s ever an opportunity to go abroad again obviously I’d entertain it, but I think at my age coming back now, I laid roots here before and this is the club I want to play for right now.”
Featured image credit: Adelaide United
