KEY POINTS:
New Zealand soccer international Shane Smeltz is set to take his goalscoring boots to Europe.
The A-League Golden Boot award winner has accepted an offer to join Turkish club Hacettepe, but his path to the Northern Hemisphere may still be blocked by Gold Coast, whom he was due to join in April.
The 27-year-old has signed an 18-month deal with Hacettepe, with an option of another two years.
The arrangement was confirmed yesterday by his employer, Wellington Phoenix, with chief executive Tony Pignata describing the deal as "a very good opportunity for him".
"I signed the paperwork late yesterday for Shane to be cleared for Turkey,"Pignata said from Sydney.
"At the end of the day Shane is still our player. He is contracted to us until June, even though he had signed a contract with Gold Coast.
"He was happy to go and we were happy to release him.
"It's great for Shane from his career point of view. We'd never want to hold any player back."
Smeltz is coming off a hot season for the Phoenix, during which he scored a league-leading 12 goals.
His exploits were recognised at an A-League function in Sydney last night when he won the Golden Boot award for the most number of goals as well as the coveted Johnny Warren Medal, voted on by his playing peers.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported yesterday that Smeltz's transfer was believed to be worth A$400,000 ($507,870), with the bulk of the fee going to expansion club Gold Coast, who signed him last November as one of the key recruits for their debut season. They are unlikely to release Smeltz without some hard bargaining.
"At the end of the day Gold Coast have to agree and Shane's agent [Leo Karis] is working on that with Gold Coast at the moment,"Pignata said.
Gold Coast were not happy when they learned of Smeltz's plans, with coach Miron Bleiberg telling the Herald that the 2007 New Zealand Player of the Year was "going nowhere".
"He had a contract with us and obviously we can get a lot of money from 'the transfer' but we're not interested,"Bleiberg said. "This sort of money is like $5 to 'billionaire club owner' Clive Palmer.
"... he has a contract with us which he must honour and he will be a Gold Coast United player."
Pignata said the outcome of Karis' negotiations would come down to the wording of Smeltz' contract with Gold Coast.
"There will be some compensation in there for the club, but if an overseas club comes calling he is entitled to go. It comes down to how tight the contract clauses are but from my understanding he has it in there and he should be allowed to go."
- NZPA
