Mansfield Town have announced the signing of Plymouth Argyle and New Zealand forward Ben Waine on a season-long loan.
The 23-year-old, who arrived at Home Park in January 2023, began his career at hometown club and A-League outfit Wellington Pheonix.
The striker made his debut for the Nix in 2019, shortly before turning 18, and went on to become the club’s youngest ever goal scorer – scoring 17 goals in 73 appearances in the league, whilst also finding the net five times in the Australian Cup.
In 2020, the attacker represented New Zealand U23 six times at the Tokyo Olympics, following an outstanding preliminary campaign. Ben scored eight goals from just five Olympics qualifiers as New Zealand progressed as the Oceania representatives for the games.
Excellent form at Phoenix earned Ben a nomination for the A-League Young Player of the Year in 2021, with a call-up to New Zealand’s senior national side coming soon after.
Ben netted his first senior international goal in March 2022; scoring the winner in a 1-0 World Cup qualifier victory over Papua New Guinea.
The frontman was also a part of the New Zealand Oceania Football Confederation Men’s Nation Cup squad, who lifted the trophy earlier this year.
Upon his arrival at Plymouth, Ben made nine Sky Bet League One appearances in the second half of Argyle’s promotion winning season.
The forward went on to make 32 appearances in the 2023/24 season as the Devonshire club secured another season of Championship football on the final day of last season.
The New Zealand international has already appeared twice for Plymouth this season, including a start and goal in a Carabao Cup first round clash with Cheltenham.
Manager Nigel Clough said: “We’re very pleased to get Ben on board. He wanted an opportunity to go on loan and play some games.
“We received good references on him from the New Zealand manager and a few other contacts we have.
“When Chris Woods is injured for New Zealand, he’s the one who plays, and he’s also scored some goals for Wellington.
“He’s not had too many opportunities at Plymouth but we like what we’ve seen of him.”
Meanwhile,
Mansfield Town’s Sky Bet League One match away to Wycombe Wanderers on 07 September has been postponed due to international call ups to three of Stags’ players: Lucas Akins (Grenada) Keanu Baccus (Australia) and Ben Waine (New Zealand).
A rearranged date for the fixture will be announced in due course.
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