Entries Tagged 'Leandro Love' ↓
February 5th, 2008 — Asian Champions League, Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory, Stefan Moore, Transfers
Stefan Moore, a 24-year old English striker with experience playing for Aston Villa, is coming to Melbourne this week for a two-week trial.
Moore captained Aston Villa’s youth team when it won the 2002 FA Youth Cup, and has been very highly rated. According to the ever-reliable Wikipedia, “Moore was rated by many as a better prospect than Wayne Rooney.”
But it never quite happened for Moore. After a series of loans, he eventually moved to Queens Park Rangers in 2005. So just a few months after Nick Ward left QPR behind, he may be joined in Melbourne by a former team mate.
Of course, if Melbourne does sign Moore, that means that two of its current visa players will be left out of the mix for the Asian Champions League. Last week, indications were that Leandro Love would be one of the three. But with another striker on board (as well as Nathan Elasi), Love may once again be pushed out of the squad.
February 2nd, 2008 — Grant Brebner, Joe Keenan, Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory
Surprise, surprise: Leandro Love will be one of the three foreign players in the Melbourne Victory’s Asian Champions League squad.
Frankly, I thought the Brazilian was on his way out, but Ernie Merrick has decided to keep Love on hand:
“We need to keep as many attacking players in the squad as we can. We’ve really got no shortage of defensive or midfield players.”
Ernie Merrick (Herald Sun)
Carlos Hernández appears a certain selection for the Asian Champions League, leaving either Grant Brebner or Joe Keenan to get the drop. While Keenan has not managed to work his way into Merrick’s favourite eleven, Brebner hasn’t started since December. Both have struggled with injury.
Of course, Merrick could leave them both out and sign some fresh foreign talent instead – but considering the club’s current inability to attract new Australian players, this appears unlikely.
January 9th, 2008 — Asian Champions League, Carlos Hernandez, Grant Brebner, Joe Keenan, Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory
One important decision which Ernie Merrick will have to make in the next month is which international player he leaves out of the Melbourne Victory squad for the Asian Champions League.
Coaches have to get their 30-player squad lists in by the 11th of February. One of the stipulations is that each team can only have three foreign players.
This means that one of Melbourne’s four internationals is going to miss out on the Champions League.
Our international players are:
Who should Merrick leave out?
Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.
October 4th, 2007 — Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory, Players
When he first signed Leandro Love, Ernie Merrick had this to say about the Brazilian striker: The third striker really has to know he’s a back-up striker, so that’s why we’ve gone for a 21-year-old who’s . . . pretty fit and ready to go.
What a difference six weeks makes.
Continue reading →
August 23rd, 2007 — Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory, Players
Leandro Love has been cleared to play. Apparently, his short 2nd half stint several weeks ago against the Wellington Phoenix cost the Melbourne Victory $5000. Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.
But alas, the good news today is that all the necessary red tape has been completed. Gary Cole sounds relieved and frustrated about the whole debacle:
“The notification has come through. Bloody unbelievable. As long as you keep working hard, things eventually come through.”
This is, of course, good to hear. But with hardly any game time under his belt in the past month, you have to wonder how Leandro is going to fare come Sunday. It’s hard to imagine him starting against Wellington, but will Archie’s injury concern force Merrick to throw Leandro into the deep end?
July 26th, 2007 — Leandro Love, Melbourne Victory, Players, Transfers
Melbourne announced its latest signing, bringing on board Brazilian striker Leandro Rodriguez da Silva, aka Leandro Love, aka Leandro, from J-League’s Kobe Vissel. It’s a one year loan deal, making him the third loaned player on Melbourne’s roster, along with Kaz Patafta and Carlos Hernandez. It is now becoming apparent that this is a preferred way for the Victory to attract quality players while minimising expenses.
While it is not likely that Leandro will feature prominently for the team, he is a much needed addition to the squad, which has been desperately lacking a third striker. With both Thompson and Allsopp now on the Socceroo’s radar, Melbourne would be in deep trouble if schedules conflicted during the season and, if nothing else, Leandro provides some peace of mind. But to write him off as nothing more than a back-up would be underplaying his role. A quality third striker can prove vitally important in dead-locked matches or matches where the team is down by a goal. Who could forget the role James Robinson played in last season’s semi-final?
While we still know very little about this player, Merrick seems to be underplaying his quality with comments like this: “The third striker really has to know he’s a back-up striker, so that’s why we’ve gone for a 21-year-old who’s . . . pretty fit and ready to go.” Certainly not the glowing words that Merrick has reserved for some of the other signings. That said, Leandro does seem a reasonable prospect at least, apparently having scored 4 goals during his stint at Brazilian state team Rio Branco in the Paulista State Championships. Here’s one of his goals (against Palmeiras) I managed to dig up on YouTube. It’s the second goal:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATUF5ZXruzE[/youtube]
