Adelaide release Van Dijk for Persib move

By ESPNSTAR.com staff

Since making his debut in Australian football's top flight in 2008, Van Dijk has gone on to become one of the most-prolific marksmen in the competition's history.

Following two years with Brisbane, where he scored 25 goals in 50 league appearances, the 30-year-old moved to Hindmarsh Stadium and had a similar impact by racking up 25 goals from 55 games.

However, Van Dijk has recently struggled to force his way into the first-team plans of Adelaide coach John Kosmina, who has ranked Bruce Djite and Jeronimo Neumann ahead of him in the pecking order.

But the Assen native's troubled time at the club finally came to an end on Thursday when it was announced that his contract had been terminated by mutual agreement, paving the way for him to join Persib.

"Sergio van Dijk has officially been released from his contract to pursue a career with Indonesian club PT Persib Bandung Bermatabat, effective immediately," read a statement on the club's official website.

Only on Tuesday, Van Dijk revealed his desire to leave the Reds and named Indonesia as his preferred destination.

"I hope to finish this soon and start a new chapter," he said. "I'm not angry but I'm frustrated or maybe a bit disappointed in how things have been working out, but the next step is my new future and new chapter.

"That's not really my intention to go to another club in Australia because the main thing is my family reasons to leave Australia, so that wouldn't be an improvement.

"But I want to stay in football, and in Europe and especially the Netherlands, there's not a lot of clubs that would like to sign me, especially because the economical situation over there is not as good as Asia, so Indonesia would be the next logical step for me."

Van Dijk began his career at Groningen and played entirely in Netherlands prior to his move to the A-League.