Entries Tagged 'Nathan Burns' ↓

The Melbourne Victory doesn’t seem to be having much luck attracting new players.

Nathan Burns has re-signed with Adelaide United; and indications are that Sasa Ognenovski will be heading over there too. The Queensland Roar defender already seems to be burning bridges with his current club: last week, he got in a fight with Roar goalkeeper Griffin McMaster. The conflict appears to have been about McMaster’s haircut…

Meanwhile, an article in The Age last week was talking up the possibilities of Melbourne signing Perth Glory’s Jamie Coyne. Earlier this week, that possibility was squashed, as Coyne re-signed with Perth.

Michael Thwaite has also just signed a deal with Norwegian team Brann Bergen (incidentally, Nathan Burns is over at Brann Bergen for a trial at the moment). The 24-year old Socceroo had been rumoured to be negotiating with Melbourne.

So, that leaves us with… Stuart Musialik. The Newcastle Jets are hoping he’ll stay at the club, and with the way the Jets keep on winning these days, I wouldn’t put it past them.

Where are these new recruits going to come from?

With Steven Pace joining Daniel Piorkowski and Ljubo Milicevic on the list of injured defenders – Pace has a broken leg – Melbourne’s defensive options are a huge worry. With Nathan Elasi bolstering our striking options, finding a few new defenders is taking top priority for Ernie Merrick and Gary Cole.

Since I first posted about Lucas Pantelis potentially signing with Melbourne Victory, a few more potential new recruits have been mentioned in the press:

• Sasa Ognenovski: Simon Hill mentioned this one during the match on Saturday night. Could the Queensland Roar defender be on his way down to Melbourne? The chance to play in the Asian Champions League will undoubtedly sweeten the deal.

• Stuart Musialik: Great defender, but how will he get along with Rodrigo Vargas, whom he called a “black monkey” earlier this season? Another player for whom the Champions League could prove a drawcard.

• Nathan Burns: Doesn’t seem like this is a very likely prospect, but from the sounds of it, Melbourne has made an offer. An excellent striker whose presence in the squad would definitely put more pressure on Danny Allsopp and Archie Thompson to perform.

Steven Pace has also had his contract extended. I think he’s going to struggle for a place in the starting line-up, but he has definitely proved his worth in what little game time he’s had.

Meanwhile, I’ve written an article about the problem of Australia’s representation at the Asian Champions League over on Newsvine. In the article, I discuss the problems with having last year’s Australian champions playing in this year’s ACL – a problem highlighted by the fact that both Adelaide and Melbourne are unlikely to reach this year’s A-League finals.

You can read the full article here:  The Problem with the Asian Champions League.