All Whites star Sarpreet Singh has not skipped a beat since skipping the Tokyo Olympics to focus on his club career.
The attacking midfielder has hit the ground running in his second spell away from German giants Bayern Munich.
Singh has been directly involved in six goals in his first five games for second division side SSV Jahn Regensburg.
He has set up four goals and scored two himself, including an impressive strike from a tight angle in a 4-1 win over Schalke that moved the unbeaten Jahn Regensburg to the top of the 2. Bundesliga table.
It has been a welcome return to form for one of New Zealand’s most gifted players, who is brimming with confidence after bouncing back from an unsuccessful previous loan spell with 1. FC Nürnberg.
“I joined this club to play games, get minutes and to try and get as many goals and assists as possible,” Singh said.
“So far it’s been good, but it’s still very early days. The season is long, there’s still at least 30 games including cup games to play, so there’s still a big chunk of the season to go and there’s no need to get ahead of myself.
“But I’ve enjoyed it here. The team has helped me settle in really quickly and I think that’s helped a lot.
“When I enjoy my football I tend to do well.”
Singh cut short his time with Nürnberg last season after struggling for game time.
He played 12 games without scoring a goal and spent the rest of the season back with Bayern’s reserve team, who were then relegated from the third division 12 months after winning the 3. Liga title.
Singh said it knocked his confidence, but he believed the adversity he experienced during a difficult season helped prepare him for the latest move as he knew what he was walking into.
“In football sometimes things work out differently. I wasn’t playing as much, I wasn’t as confident when I was playing, and I think you can look at different reasons as to why.
”When you’re at Bayern and you go out on loan and it doesn’t work out, it does knock the confidence a wee bit.
“But I think the most important thing for me was to play and I wasn’t playing regularly when I was there, so that’s why I made the decision to go back, to reset and to play games with the second team and then go again.
“That’s how I got to where I am and now I’m in a different space. I understand the league more with this team we’re doing very well and within a good team you can stand out individually.”
Singh trained with the OlyWhites in Auckland prior to the Olympics and wanted to go to Tokyo, but he ended up making the “very tough decision” to make himself unavailable for selection for the tournament.
Once he knew he would be going out on loan again, the 22-year-old felt it would be best for his career in the long run to return to Germany and link up with his new club for pre-season training.
He would have missed the entire pre-season as well as the first two games had he gone to the Olympics.
“It was a very tough decision. Playing for New Zealand whenever I can is obviously a huge honour and I don’t think I’ve ever had to make a decision like that before until now,” Singh said.
“Even when I came back to New Zealand I started training with the team and I enjoyed it and I thought to myself I do want to go to the Olympics, but in the back of my head I knew a loan was going to eventuate and I really had to make a call because if I went to the Olympics I would miss out on all the pre-season plus the first two games.
“In a season where last season wasn’t how I wanted it to go, this was the right decision for my long-term career. Obviously the Olympics is special and hopefully one day I can go maybe as an over-age player to experience it because for sure it’s something I’d want to do. “
The former Onehunga Sports junior made two appearances and collected a winner’s medal during a whirlwind first season with Bayern after securing a dream transfer from Wellington Phoenix in July 2019.
He said his main goal was to return to Bayern and be a more regular contributor within the next two seasons after quietly signing a new one-year contract extension when he returned from Nürnberg.
Although the plan was to spend this season with Jahn Regensburg in 2. Bundesliga and help them win promotion, Singh said it was important to be prepared just in case he got called back by his parent club.
“It’s not easy to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world and I don’t think there’s a real rush in terms of how it happens or when it happens,” he said.
“It’s Bayern, the best players will always play so to be there takes time, it’s a process and doing well on these loan moves helps of course and helps you grow as a player. I still think a lot of my career is still ahead of me so it’s just taking it step by step. It could happen next year or in a few years, who knows?
“Football is crazy. You can drop down so quickly and you can reach the top so quickly as well. You just have to want to improve every day and I’m in a very good environment now which is helping me improve in all areas of my game and I’m starting to take the next steps in my career.”
