Australian winger Awer Mabil has signed a four-year deal with La Liga side Cadiz.
The Socceroos star who, less than a fortnight, helped the National team reach the World Cup in Qatar, sealed the switch to the La Liga side on Friday. He joins the Spanish side from Turkish club Kasimpasa where he was on loan towards the back-end of last season.
The move was announced in his hometown of Adelaide, and Mabil expressed his delight in signing for his new club.
“It means everything to sign for Cadiz, to go to La Liga,” he said.
“It’s a dream come true for me and my family,’ Mabil said.
“I’m really, really excited and just can’t wait.
“La Liga’s one of the best leagues in the world and obviously got some of the best teams in the world in Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico.”.
“I could never have imagined playing against them, and now it’s like a reality.
“I just have to work hard now and win at Bernabeu, that will be amazing … gonna give everything I can to try to win games … but just looking forward to the challenges.”
Mabil, a former Adelaide United player, also played for FC Midtjylland, making over 100 appearances for the Danish club, which he joined in 2015.
The 26-year-old played in the 2020-21 Champions League whilst with the Danish club and joined an illustrious list of Australians who have scored in Europe’s top club competition.
His new club will be hoping that his signing can take them to a new height after they avoided relegation by one place and one point last season. They finished 17th out of 20 La Liga clubs after earning a promotion back to the top flight in 2020 for the first time in 14 years.
He could open his 2022-23 campaign against his Socceroos captain Maty Ryan, when Cadiz play Real Sociedad on August 14.