David Ball loves New Zealand but hopes to return to Fleetwood Town one day

Before coronavirus brought football to a halt, the 30-year-old scored an outstanding solo goal for his club Wellington Phoenix.

He beat two defenders from Australian A-League rivals Melbourne Victory before curling the ball into the bottom corner.

It was an expert finish that would have graced Highbury Stadium from a player whose Cantona-esque chip against Preston North End was shortlisted for FIFA’s Puskas Award for the goal of the season.

Now the Kiwi capital is home for Ball, who helped Town win promotion to League One during his five seasons with the Cod Army .

Two years with Rotherham United followed, the second of them on loan to Bradford City, before that 19,000km move to the Sky Stadium in Wellington

Ball said: “On a personal note, Fleetwood was an incredible five years for me. The club has played a huge part in my career, my life and my family’s life.

“I managed to have success there and like to think I played a part in getting them to where they are today.

“Every weekend I check to see how they have got on and I still speak to a few people there, so it’s nice to see them doing so well this season. It’s definitely a club that will stay with me forever.

“Hopefully I can either play there again before the end of my career or return in another role”.

Ball’s Millers contract expired in the summer of 2019 and the Manchester City youth product said: “I had five or six offers from League One clubs and then out of the blue got told about two A-League teams that were interested.

“The offers were similar in terms of money, so the decision wasn’t anything to do with that. I’d done nine or 10 years in and around League One and I felt like I wanted a new experience.

“It’s important to me to be able to look back at my career and say, ‘I did that’ or ‘I tried that’. So for me the move was all about coming out of my comfort zone and trying something new.”

Two weeks after that initial call, the family left their home in Liverpool to embark on an exciting new chapter.

Ball had never visited the country before but seven months into his Phoenix career he says: “I’ve settled into life really well here with my wife and two boys.

“The club has been brilliant in terms of making the transition as easy as possible for me. We have a place next to the beach, where we spend a lot of time as a family. The kids are in school round the corner and we all feel really lucky to be here.

“It was obviously a huge move for me and a massive change in lifestyle but one I’m glad I made. The culture out here is so different. Materialistic things aren’t important here. People just focus on doing as well as they possibly can without any of that.

“Football is everything to us in the UK, a way of life almost, but for the locals here there is much more to life. My kids have started to realise that at school too, so we’ve all had to change our outlook.”