Jets' Zura jets home to Ecuador

The struggling Newcastle Jets are considering chasing an interim marquee player after a homesick Edmundo Zura dramatically returned to Ecuador. The defending ALeague champions are picking up the pieces after the Ecuadorian international delivered a tearful farewell following the 21 loss to Queensland on Sunday night. Zura, signed as the Jets marquee player on a oneyear loan deal, asked for a contract termination due to offfield reasons. Advertisement: Story continues below But after failing to deliver on the park in a goalless and maligned threemonth stint, where he lasted the full 90 minutes in just three of his nine starts, his departure won't be mourned by the Jets. The 25yearold could no longer cope being away from his homeland and family including his wife and fouryearold son and organised his flight independently. "We can understand that he misses his homeland, his family, and the way of life that he is comfortable with," said Jets chief executive John Tsatsimas. "It's not easy to travel to another country and settle immediately, particularly when there is such a large language barrier there. "So we would not stand in his way in returning to Ecuador, which is where Rosetta Stone Software he wants to be." Coach Gary van Egmond and newlyappointed highperformance manager Ian Crook, who coached Newcastle Utd in the old NSL, are reviewing whether to replace Zura with a marquee player or shortterm guest star. The writing was on the wall for Zura when the Jets announced fellow striker Joel Griffiths as next season's marquee man. As a marquee player, Zura's contract is not included in the salary cap so the club can either chase another star signing or merely stick with their current squad and promote youth players. Zura, who debuted for Ecuador in 2006 and captained them to victory at last year's Pan American Games, ran out of patience waiting for his family to join him in Newcastle following a visa holdup. Ironically, he decided to return home as papers from South America finally arrived, paving the way for them to settle in Australia. But his interpreter had made the club aware before the weekend of his plans as he struggled to come to terms with the lifestyle. The pressure was building on Zura before Sunday's home defeat which saw the defending premiers fall to equal second last, five points out of the top four. Teammates revealed Zura was in tears after the game, which included a disallowed headed early goal for being offside, when he told some of his decision. His loss and the continued absence of a quartet of Young Socceroos players leaves the Jets with a bare 15 of their senior squad. National U19 striker Jason Naidovski will come into contention when he returns next week as the Jets are also battling up front with Jason Hoffman sidelined for the season with a knee injury. Veteran midfielder Noel Spencer is also facing the prospect of seasonending surgery needed to fix a wearandtear ankle problem.