EXCLUSIVE: Wanderers star Alex Gersbach details the 'pretty intense' world of a football globetrotter

On the back deck of the Western Sydney Wanderers' headquarters sits Alex Gersbach.

A table, chair and phone is the simple equipment needed for this interview as Wanderers staff near us enjoy their conversations over lunch.

It's early May and the sun beams at Rooty Hill in Sydney's west. Gersbach was born not so far away, in Auburn, but he's been a typical globetrotter over the past decade.

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Trondheim in Norway. Lens in the north of France. Breda in the Netherlands. Aarhus, Denmark. Grenoble, in the mountainous regions of south-eastern France. Colorado in the USA. And Kalmar, in south-east Sweden.

Ask the left-back to list off every country he's played in and even he admits he struggles.

At 28, Gersbach has lived in areas people simply dream of visiting just once.

Now he's in Sydney. Or Rooty Hill to be precise.

"It's been ideal so far, I was away for nine years and then obviously probably wasn't planning on coming back home to the Wanderers but that's the way football works out," he tells Wide World of Sports.

"When I got the call from Staj (coach Alen Stajcic) I was a bit hesitant before he called me but as soon as I spoke to him, I was sold, and then came back and from day one it's been really great.

"It took me a bit of time to get fit and get match fit but I think the medical team and Staj handled me pretty well in that regard so I've started the last few games and am feeling better and better each game."

Gersbach's move home on a two-and-a-half year deal ended his almost 10 years abroad.

In 2014 at 17, he was rated as one of the best young footballers in Australia. His time at Sydney FC came with 31 appearances before a move to Norwegian giants Rosenborg BK was signed, sealed and delivered in January 2016.

Months later he was debuting for the Socceroos under Ange Postecoglou.

There was league titles and a Norwegian Football Cup. His three-year stint at Rosenborg also included a loan to Lens in France, and from there the cycle had begun - taking him to seven countries over the next decade.

So does being back in Australia mean he's settled?

"Yeah I think so. I haven't really had a stable life since I left Australia. I've been very fortunate to live in some beautiful places, beautiful cities and countries but I haven't quite found a home," he said.

"I spent two-and-a-half years in Norway and then on loan (in France) and then back to Norway so being in Norway was probably the longest time I found a home and settled but I was young then.

"And then it's been a lot of moving around since then, which obviously comes with its perks, living in different places. But as you get older, you want to settle down and have a home and that was sort of part of moving back here and it's exciting as well to live in your hometown as an adult, finally. I left when I was 18."

It's a candid response.

The life of a professional footballer is no doubt glamorous and as Gersbach admits, has its perks.

But the pace is different when it comes to the transfer market.

The 28-year-old is candid again when asked how that process happens.

"You'll have an idea when you're talking to your agent, 'oh look I haven't been playing for six months' ... and you might think nothing will happen, no one's interested and then out of the blue it happens and three days later you're packing up your whole apartment, your whole life and moving across the world or to a different country in Europe," he explained.

"It's pretty intense. I think I've become a little bit desensitised to it. I've done it so many times now that it's just the norm to me. Hopefully I'm not going to feel like that after a few years in Sydney, thinking 'what's going on? I need to move'.

"It's really good to be settled. I did enjoy moving around and it didn't bother me but at the same time, I'm older now and looking for a real home and Sydney is my home."

From his time across Europe and America, Gersbach can't list a definitive favourite country or city.

Norway, he admits, "was the closest to my heart because football went really well there".

Trophies can do that to a man, particularly for a footballer in his formative years.

Denmark and Colorado had its off-field perks but injuries and selection hampered the football side. At the Rapids, Gersbach only made five appearances for the first team and three for the second XI side.

"I was really happy to sign there," he says of Colorado.

"I signed a three-year deal and things turned sour pretty quickly but off the field I probably enjoyed it the most. That was great, beautiful part of the world."

Before that was time at Grenoble.

"I spent a year and a half there and at the end of it I was really upset to leave and France is an amazing place ... it became like home to me."

Judging by his responses earlier, you'd think the AIS product was sitting by the phone, waiting for a call from any A-League club.

But it wasn't that simple.

"I wasn't itching to come home," he admits.

Gersbach's last club, Swedish outfit Kalmar FF, were relegated last year. He says if this didn't happen, he probably would've stayed over there.

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It had been 10 years since living in Australia but he had six months left on his contract and was going to have to see what panned out after it expired.

Then Stajcic sold him on the dream.

"He was just straightforward to be honest. He just said 'look are you interested in coming home? ... here's the contract offer'," he recalled.

"It was a two-and-a-half year deal which suited me and my girlfriend moving back to Sydney, so it was a bit of a no-brainer and I was sold on what Staj wants to do and he was just clear with me from day one, this is what we want from you and this is what the team wants and the direction we're going in.

"I'm really happy with the club and the team as a whole, with the people. I think it's pretty fun to represent this region of western Sydney and Staj is right when he says it all the time, it's got so much potential to be the biggest club in Australia, we've got a really good fan base and you see them getting excited about what's going on so hopefully it's not just this year, hopefully we build on that and create a culture in the club where we're making the finals every year and challenging for titles and challenging to win the (Australia) Cup and challenging for a Champions League spot.

"Obviously this year is really important, we know how important it is, but I think the year after that and the year after that are even more important for this club."

Now Gersbach is preparing for an elimination final. His fitness is back and he's played 90 minutes in every game for the last four fixtures.

Standing in the way is Melbourne Victory.

The last time these two sides met was in mid-March. The Victory fired early with a 2-0 lead before Bozhidar Kraev scored before the break for the Wanderers.

Then it was a second half rampage, as Stajcic's men secured a 4-2 victory.

That match was in front of home fans at CommBank Stadium and with the Wanderers securing fourth spot, it'll be the same again on Saturday night.

"We know they've got a lot of attacking threats and we got one up over them two months ago but that doesn't mean anything at all coming into this weekend," Gersbach said.

"We've got our home fans behind us which I personally think was really important that we finish four instead of fifth because that will give us that extra bit of energy. Especially in the last 20 or 30 minutes when we're going to need it.

"I guess in the beginning of the game, to avoid what happened last time, we've got to stay tight and focus defensively and then hopefully the game opens up for our big attacking threats later on and hopefully we've got the power to run over them like we did last time."

If the attacking threats execute, those back deck lunch conversations may just go on a little longer.