{"id":323309,"date":"2024-10-31T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/?p=323309"},"modified":"2025-02-12T13:42:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T00:42:13","slug":"nix-secure-young-auckland-winger-on-multi-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/nix-secure-young-auckland-winger-on-multi-year-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Nix secure young Auckland winger on multi-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Wellington Phoenix have signed one of Auckland\u2019s brightest footballing talents in the week of the inaugural New Zealand derby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Winger Nathan Walker has graduated into the professional ranks, putting pen to paper on a four year contract with the Phoenix, the first two years of which are on scholarship terms.

Walker, 18, is a born and bred Aucklander and played for  Bucklands Beach AFC, Onehunga Sports, Auckland United and Fencibles United before joining the Nix academy at the start of this year.

The New Zealand age-group international has already made his first team debut. He was thrust into the Phoenix starting XI for the Isuzu UTE A-League season opener against Western United and didn\u2019t look out of place in an unfamiliar wingback role, before featuring off the bench in the second round win over Perth Glory.

Phoenix head coach Giancarlo Italiano is delighted to have secured Walker to a long-term contract.

\u201cWalks was thrown in the deep end and did very well against Western United and did well when he came on against Perth too,\u201d Italiano said.

\u201cHe\u2019s very quick, he has good endurance and stamina and he\u2019s dangerous with the forward runs he makes.

\u201cWalks is playing as a wing back at the moment because that\u2019s the only width in our current formation, but that allows him to be a little bit more expressive because he\u2019s got four defenders around him.

\u201cI could see him being a potential winger, a 10 or even a nine for the Phoenix, so he\u2019s another player with plenty of upside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – OCTOBER 20: Riku Danzaki of Western United competes with Nathan Walker of the Phoenix during the round one A-League Men match between Wellington Phoenix and Western United at Sky Stadium, on October 20, 2024, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nathan Walker is pinching himself he\u2019s now a professional footballer.

\u201cEvery kid dreams of it, but now that it\u2019s actually happening it\u2019s pretty surreal,\u201d Walker said.

\u201cI always thought becoming a pro footballer was possible. My father (Brooke Walker) played for New Zealand in cricket, and he\u2019s always been very supportive and told me to just go for it while I\u2019m young and I\u2019ve got the chance.

\u201cIt\u2019s always been something I\u2019ve wanted to do but especially towards the end of pre-season I started to realise that it definitely could happen.

\u201cI\u2019m just grateful. I can now really put my head down and get to work for the next four seasons so I\u2019m really looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND – OCTOBER 20: Nathan Walker of the Phoenix attacks during the round one A-League Men match between Wellington Phoenix and Western United at Sky Stadium, on October 20, 2024, in Wellington, New Zealand. (Photo by Hannah Peters\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After some initial homesickness Walker is relishing living in the capital and has no regrets about leaving Auckland.

\u201cI\u2019m sure my family would have loved for me to stay at home, but I think I\u2019m at the right club so I\u2019m happy.

\u201cEverything down here I\u2019m enjoying, from the football to the lifestyle.

\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of mates back home obviously and my family\u2019s in Auckland, but they\u2019ve all chosen to support the right team so I\u2019m happy with that. It\u2019s the right place for me now.\u201d

He has thanked Phoenix academy coaches Chris Greenacre and Luke Tongue for the roles they\u2019ve played in his development this year.

\u201cLooking at me when I came down here to me now; I\u2019m a completely different player.

\u201cI came from a local football club into an academy, so I had a lot of details to work on and stuff you don\u2019t really get taught at an amateur level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGreeny has kept on top of me when I\u2019ve needed it and he\u2019s always been there for me.

\u201cI\u2019ve talked to him a lot about missing home and my family. Same as Tonguey as well. They\u2019ve both been unreal.\u201d

And Nathan Walker believes he wouldn\u2019t be a professional footballer if it wasn\u2019t for one of his former coaches at Fencibles, Mikey Poulopoulos or Mikey P as he\u2019s known.

\u201cThere was a point about three years ago when I was going to quit football.

\u201cThen over summer I did some sessions with Mikey P at Fencibles and he\u2019s basically the reason I\u2019m still playing football because he reminded me it\u2019s all about having fun, which at the time I was struggling with.

\u201cHe\u2019s very special to me and I\u2019m still in contact with him now.\u201dNathan Walker is the 26th<\/sup> player in the men\u2019s first team squad and is in contention to play against his hometown club when Auckland FC visit Sky Stadium on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":254,"featured_media":323315,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[328,329,330,356,343],"tags":[],"competition":[],"acf":{"match_card_embed_league":"","match_card_embed_club":null,"match_card_embed_match":"","match_card_embed_disable":false,"auto_publish_updates":true,"reference_article":null,"article_featured_video":"","article_featured_video_tagline":"","article_byline":"","article_media_type":"news","article_video":"","gallery":"","shared_ffa_source":"keepup","shared_hide_in_app":false,"article_player":"","article_team":"","article_competition":"","article_match":"","credit":"","related_articles":"","push_to_social":false,"priority":1,"sport":false,"language":"en","private_content":false,"access_level":"","article_id":"","app_featured_image":null,"article_content_group":"news"},"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/nix-secure-young-auckland-winger-on-multi-year-deal\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"Nix secure young Auckland winger on multi-year deal","url":"http:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/nix-secure-young-auckland-winger-on-multi-year-deal\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/news\/nix-secure-young-auckland-winger-on-multi-year-deal\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Nathan-Walker-Signing-Yellow-Web-1920x1080-1.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2024\/10\/Nathan-Walker-Signing-Yellow-Web-1920x1080-1.png"},"articleSection":"Academy News","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"brenton"}],"creator":["brenton"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Wellington Phoenix","logo":"https:\/\/wellingtonphoenix.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2022\/04\/cropped-Wellington_Phoenix_FC_logo-2.png"},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2024-10-31T00:00:00Z","datePublished":"2024-10-31T00:00:00Z","dateModified":"2025-02-12T00:42:13Z"},"rendered":"