Foreign strikers with impressive CVs who come to the A-League Men on the wrong side of 30 can often be greeted with a "buyer beware" warning.
But Macarthur’s French forward Valere Germain is confounding those expectations after registering six assists and bagging 12 goals in his maiden campaign in Australia.
The secret, Germain says ahead of Saturday’s elimination final against Sydney FC, is simple, one he has used throughout his career across stints at Monaco, Marseille and Nice.
A couple of times a week Germain will “faire la sieste”, or, in English, have an afternoon nap.
“From the start of my career I’ve never been injured and I’ve always tried to drink well and eat well,” Germain told AAP.
“I usually take a sieste, I think it’s important for footballers to recover well.
“It’s not every day, but three or four days a week when we’re getting near a match on Saturday, I’ll take a sieste Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
“I did it when I was in Ligue 1 in France and I carried that on when I got to Australia because I wanted to enjoy myself on the pitch, to win, perform and score goals.”
As well as creating and scoring goals, Macarthur value Germain’s contribution to bringing out the best in their young attacking players.
Jake Hollman, Jed Drew and Raphael Borgues Rodrigues have all kicked on while servicing the accomplished French striker.
When the pass isn’t perfect, however, Germain has let his teammates know how he feels, often flailing his arms in the air in disgust.
But the forward believes his demands have started to bring the best out of the young trio as they prepare to face Sydney.
“On the pitch, there’s moments where you’ve got to be across the little details,” Germain said.
“You can see Jed, Jake, Raph have really evolved from the start of the season to now.
“They are much more consistent and that’s going to be better for the club if they continue to progress.
“In this type of match those little details can make the difference.
“We’ve got to give the best version of ourselves, keep pushing in the same direction and hopefully we can qualify.”
