Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation

[jw1739]

20 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I’m feeling okay about, by December most will be forgotten. 

I’ve seen interesting players coming to Australia with other teams, escaping Covid riddled Europe. Looking at the recruitment of some teams, with Sydney keeping their squad together, we are top 4 but aren’t running away with it.

IMO it's highly unlikely that we will import a player who will "put bums on seats." CFG have indicated right from the start that we would not do this. The two to date have been David Villa and Tim Cahill, and that was a stuff-up. We were of course shafted by FFA on Lampard.

We've certainly had our share of "interesting" players though, but haven't really utilised them to the full. I would name Colazo and Budzinski in this category - there may be others we could add.

"Our Bruno" is in a category by himself. All water under the bridge now.

[Jovan]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Pessimistic as usual I still think that the whole league is in crisis.

I fully understand your pessimism, but strangely I'm optimistic. 

I kind of feel that under Johnson we have a fighting chance of resurrecting the game and League. 

After all the massive obstacles he has faced since taking over he has actually delivered. That is, secured a world cup, that potentially may leave legacy for the game. Was able to navigate a completion of season crippled by COVID which many way more highly respected leagues didn't. He was able to renegotiate a new TV deal to see out the current contract, although reduced but still potentiality was looking disastrous and as an extension oversaw a new agreement with players for the upcoming season. And as far as I'm aware still in the process of unbundling the League from the FFA to the clubs. 

All this since start of the year (maybe late last year).

Obviously the next 6 months will determine exactly what things will look like but to me we are going in the right direction albeit a bit slowly.

So I'm actually optimistic. 

[CityBoyz]

https://www.melbournecityfc.com.au/news/luna-we-will-be-better-last-year

This is really interesting 

Luna joined City after having spent most of his career as a winger but found himself mostly playing as an attacking midfielder in Erick Mombaerts’ team. While this initially may not have been the position he was used to, you can expect to see Luna play it again this season.

"I think I'm now very comfortable in the attacking midfield role,” he said, “I understand it well and I know exactly what the coaches want from me."

[jw1739]

Must be tough leaving your family behind like that. Surely our immigration policies can be changed to accommodate the families of sportsmen playing here? Whole families including aged parents are allowed in from certain countries on a permanent basis - why not temporary residence for people such as Luna's family?

[CityBoyz]

Only thing we need is another attacking midfielder don’t really need another CB as Griffiths can play there 

[Shahanga]

On 11/11/2020 at 1:27 PM, jw1739 said:

Must be tough leaving your family behind like that. Surely our immigration policies can be changed to accommodate the families of sportsmen playing here? Whole families including aged parents are allowed in from certain countries on a permanent basis - why not temporary residence for people such as Luna's family?

Luna can’t vote. That’s the difference.

[jw1739]

5 minutes ago, Shahanga said:

Luna can’t vote. That’s the difference.

I will send you a PM on this issue.

[HughJass]

Jeff Olver has joined the goalkeeping staff https://hufc.com.au/olver-departs-as-alexander-great/club-news/#.X7HiYtjKogA.facebook

Edited November 18, 2020 by jw1739
FTFY

[Mr MO]

For a league which is supposed to be struggling I’m impressed with some of the signings other clubs are making, there is some decent quality imports coming in from Spain and the UK (much higher pedigree than the Lunas and Berenguers). Whilst MacArthur is also shaping up nicely. We aren’t going to run away with it this season - still think we need to open the purse for a proper marquee to make a real statement.

Edited November 25, 2020 by Mr MO

[CityBoyz]

1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

For a league which is supposed to be struggling I’m impressed with some of the signings other clubs are making, there is some decent quality imports coming in from Spain and the UK (much higher pedigree than the Lunas and Berenguers). Whilst MacArthur is also shaping up nicely. We aren’t going to run away with it this season - still think we need to open the purse for a proper marquee to make a real statement.

Yep agree we need a attacking midfielder or even maybe another winger. Seem light on for depth and competition

[Mr MO]

10 hours ago, CityBoyz said:

Yep agree we need a attacking midfielder or even maybe another winger. Seem light on for depth and competition

Yup I went from thinking we did alright by resigning some of our under performing players and get youth in, get a squad together early - to having some concerns seeing the Visa quality coming in at other teams. 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Mr MO

[CityBoyz]

1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

Yup I went from thinking we did alright by resigning some of our under performing players and get youth in, get a squad together early - to having some concerns seeing the Visa quality coming in at other teams. 

Our midfield the jury is out with.. As well we don’t have a lot of creativity in it that would have been my first signing an out and out number 10. Also an Asian player for the 3+1 rule, Brisbane signed a Asian number 10 for their ACL campaign 

[jw1739]

I always struggle with understanding just what it is CFG were trying to achieve by buying Heart in the first place. As we drift into yet another season the objectives seem as clouded as ever.

[belaguttman]

21 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

I always struggle with understanding just what it is CFG were trying to achieve by buying Heart in the first place. As we drift into yet another season the objectives seem as clouded as ever.

Agree. Thought that our objectives were always focused on becoming a big club in Asia and that once we qualified for ACL then our signings would become more ambitious. I know that there are external factors at play, losing Le Patron, COVID, losing half the League funding from Foxtel, but we do seem to be remarkably unambitious this pre-season

[CityBoyz]

18 minutes ago, belaguttman said:

Agree. Thought that our objectives were always focused on becoming a big club in Asia and that once we qualified for ACL then our signings would become more ambitious. I know that there are external factors at play, losing Le Patron, COVID, losing half the League funding from Foxtel, but we do seem to be remarkably unambitious this pre-season

agree starting XI pretty settled so well done for keeping squad together but thought we may have used our last visa spot on some creativity maybe a Asian player. Would like to know if we have used our two marquee spots 

Edited November 26, 2020 by CityBoyz

[jw1739]

34 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

agree starting XI pretty settled so well done for keeping squad together but thought we may have used our last visa spot on some creativity maybe a Asian player. Would like to know if we have used our two marquee spots 

One is certainly Jamie Maclaren. Looking at the list I can't see another one unless it's Nabbout for one season only. I don't think he's worthy of it either.

[CityBoyz]

5 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

One is certainly Jamie Maclaren. Looking at the list I can't see another one unless it's Nabbout for one season only. I don't think he's worthy of it either.

Andrew Nabbout is rumoured to be on $400,000 a season

[Mr MO]

9 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

Andrew Nabbout is rumoured to be on $400,000 a season

Do we have a medium to even ask simple questions to the club if our player roster is full and who is marquee, more signings to come - or is that none of our business?

I do suspect that Nabbout is out of the cap and thus made marquee for accounting purposes. 
 

You are right well done to the club for keeping the squad together but this also means we have another year of the same deficiencies as last years - such as Berenguer and Noon without pace or a proper shot.

Edited November 26, 2020 by Mr MO

[Nate]

7 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

Andrew Nabbout is rumoured to be on $400,000 a season

That's good value considering what he's capable of producing.

Agreed we need to strengthen our depth though and especially look at injecting an attacking marquee into the squad. Benat is such a good signing for Macarthur coming straight out of a competitive La Liga club and is exactly the type of signing that we should be trying to emulate. 

Victory also signed Rudy Gestede who played a fairly even mix of Premier League and Championship football, so there's really no excuses from our end to sign another quality player or two considering.

[CityBoyz]

9 minutes ago, Nate said:

That's good value considering what he's capable of producing.

Agreed we need to strengthen our depth though and especially look at injecting an attacking marquee into the squad. Benat is such a good signing for Macarthur coming straight out of a competitive La Liga club and is exactly the type of signing that we should be trying to emulate. 

Victory also signed Rudy Gestede who played a fairly even mix of Premier League and Championship football, so there's really no excuses from our end to sign another quality player or two considering.

Wouldn’t mind us targeting Asian players  like Brisbane did 

[n i k o]

10 minutes ago, Nate said:

That's good value considering what he's capable of producing.

Agreed we need to strengthen our depth though and especially look at injecting an attacking marquee into the squad. Benat is such a good signing for Macarthur coming straight out of a competitive La Liga club and is exactly the type of signing that we should be trying to emulate. 

Victory also signed Rudy Gestede who played a fairly even mix of Premier League and Championship football, so there's really no excuses from our end to sign another quality player or two considering.

 I'm not so in favour of paying 400k on capability or potential. To me that's a lot of money for someone that could balls up the season like he did for victory. For me he's a 250-300k player. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by n i k o

[Mr MO]

17 minutes ago, n i k o said:

 I'm not so in favour of paying 400k on capability or potential. To me that's a lot of money for someone that could balls up the season like he did for victory. For me he's a 250-300k player. 

I have a feeling we capitalised quickly on the opportunity to sign him, thinking we need to keep it local and beat our competition - so we chucked a bag of money at home. Completely underestimating that other teams will actually sign better imports, now that Australia is the place to be in the pandemic scheme of things.

[CityBoyz]

37 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I have a feeling we capitalised quickly on the opportunity to sign him, thinking we need to keep it local and beat our competition - so we chucked a bag of money at home. Completely underestimating that other teams will actually sign better imports, now that Australia is the place to be in the pandemic scheme of things.

Some other teams have some high quality imports. I was confident about our squad but getting a little nervous 

Ins 

Sutton 

Gomulka 

O’Neill

Tilio

Garuccio 

Nabbout 

Resigning Florin, Atkinson, Griffiths 

 

On paper it doesn’t really set the world on fire. One more attacker or attacking midfield is all we need 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by CityBoyz

[Nate]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

 I'm not so in favour of paying 400k on capability or potential. To me that's a lot of money for someone that could balls up the season like he did for victory. For me he's a 250-300k player. 

yeah that's fair enough, definitely a risk factor involved.

[Mr MO]

26 minutes ago, CityBoyz said:

Some other teams have some high quality imports. I was confident about our squad but getting a little nervous 

Ins 

Sutton 

Gomulka 

O’Neill

Tilio

Garuccio 

Nabbout 

Resigning Florin, Atkinson, Griffiths 

 

On paper it doesn’t really set the world on fire. One more attacker or attacking midfield is all we need 

 

I’m not all over the ACL rules but I remember other teams in the past signing additional player for the ACL. 3+1 means we can have a additional Asian player on our books, which can only play in the ACL?

Edited November 26, 2020 by Mr MO

[CityBoyz]

3 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I’m not all over the ACL rules but I remember other teams in the past signing additional player for the ACL. 3+1 means we can have a additional Asian player on our books, which can only play in the ACL?

Can play in the Aleague as well and counts as 5 foreigners in the Aleague and 3+1 in the ACL. Brisbane just signed a Japanese attacking midfielder 

[bt50]

11 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

I’m not all over the ACL rules but I remember other teams in the past signing additional player for the ACL. 3+1 means we can have a additional Asian player on our books, which can only play in the ACL?

Not quite. ACL squads can have three foreigners, and an additional player from a country within the asian confederation.
So generally speaking A League clubs have to leave 2 visas out of their ACL squad cos they dont have an asian player. 
We currently have 4 spots engaged with Noone, Windy, Florin and Luna; we'll only be able to take three of those to the Champo. If our 5th visa, providing we sign one, is Asian then we can take them too.

[n i k o]

1 hour ago, Mr MO said:

I have a feeling we capitalised quickly on the opportunity to sign him, thinking we need to keep it local and beat our competition - so we chucked a bag of money at home. Completely underestimating that other teams will actually sign better imports, now that Australia is the place to be in the pandemic scheme of things.

In fairness to the club and more so huge credit to the coaching effort, our team wasn't amazing but we ended up in the finals. 

Edited November 26, 2020 by n i k o

[CityBoyz]

We have around 19 senior players signed for this season at the club  if I’m not mistaken. 

[jw1739]

1 hour ago, CityBoyz said:

Some other teams have some high quality imports. I was confident about our squad but getting a little nervous 

Ins 

Sutton 

Gomulka 

O’Neill

Tilio

Garuccio 

Nabbout 

Resigning Florin, Atkinson, Griffiths 

 

On paper it doesn’t really set the world on fire. One more attacker or attacking midfield is all we need 

 

Yes, and we wouldn't have retained Atkinson or signed Nabbout if it weren't for the coronavirus - both would be with Perth.

I seriously question this Petrillo. We let Ramy go on a loan, and Genreau go altogether, re-sign Berenguer (who's lukewarm at the best of times) and then there's a question mark on whether we have enough quality in midfield. Ah well.

I might as well say it and cop the flak. A somewhat uninspiring squad, with a first time coach; we'll be lucky to make the top 6 .

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, n i k o said:

In fairness to the club and more so huge credit to the coaching effort, our team wasn't amazing but we ended up in the finals. 

Correct we did very well! Hence we need to move forward and build on that, as Bela already mentioned the expectations are to improve even more now that we are in the ACL.

This off season and recruitment doesn’t show that to me, yes Nabbout is decent and yes we have Covid and the salary cap came down but that doesn’t seem to stop other clubs to attract good visa players.

In short I’m expecting another signing or two if we want to make a statement.

Edited November 26, 2020 by Mr MO

[CityBoyz]

Our Predicted XI 

                      Glover 

Jamo Windbichler Good Atkinson 

      Berenguer O’Neill Luna

Noone            Maclaren            Nabbout 

Subs: Sutton, Gomulka, Tilio, Garuccio, Galloway, Griffiths, Colakovski, Metcalfe, 

Our starting XI is basically last years squad with O’Neill, Nabbout coming into the XI. Would that squad win 2 ACL Qualifiers ? Thought CFG wanted to make a statement in that competition doesn’t seem like it. I’m trying to work out why we have or needed 4 full backs 

Edited November 26, 2020 by CityBoyz

[jw1739]

11 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

In short I’m expecting another signing or two if we want to make a statement.

Where are they going to come from? Euro leagues are already in full swing and we're not in the middle of their seasons yet. The virus rampant in most parts of the world. Plus the restrictions on flights coming into Australia and quarantine requirements once you get here.

Can't see it myself.

Edited November 26, 2020 by jw1739

[CityBoyz]

2 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

Where are they going to come from? Euro leagues are already in full swing and we're not in the middle of their seasons yet. Plus the restrictions on flights coming into Australia and quarantine requirements.

Victory, Adelaide, MaCArthur have just signed high caliber imports who are currently overseas. Heaps of good free agents available  Victory are using all 5 visas 

Edited November 26, 2020 by CityBoyz

[Mr MO]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

Where are they going to come from? Euro leagues are already in full swing and we're not in the middle of their seasons yet. The virus rampant in most parts of the world. Plus the restrictions on flights coming into Australia and quarantine requirements once you get here.

Can't see it myself.

How come all other clubs seem to find quality visa imports in recent weeks?

[CityBoyz]

And we’re supposed to have the best scouting networks in the league 

[jw1739]

3 minutes ago, Mr MO said:

How come all other clubs seem to find quality visa imports in recent weeks?

 

1 minute ago, CityBoyz said:

And we’re supposed to have the best scouting networks in the league 

IMO the real answer to those questions is that we're not interested in doing so. That comment will incur the wrath of some, but the evidence over the past 4 seasons suggests to me that we are not particularly interested in winning anything, nor on increasing our supporter base, and that is why I have made the comments previously that I don't understand what it is CFG actually want from their presence in Melbourne, but whatever it was or is they have destroyed Melbourne Heart in the process.

[bt50]

When COVID hit and the cap was slashed clubs were left with two options; take the best available options on the table, or hold out in the hope the market would open up a bit again if Australia could get back on top of Corona.
We opted for the first option, which is in effect playing it safe, but we already had a GF competing squad so it was the sensible thing to do.
 

Some of the other clubs have got a bit lucky and theyre now able to attract these 32-35 yo spaniards etc, but people are forgetting what the clubs have lost and are being dazzled by a name. Our squad is far, far deeper than everyone elses except perhaps Macarthur and is proven. Even Sydney will drop back to the pack a bit unless they can find an adequate replacement for Le Fondre.

I'm not only confident we'll make finals, I think you can take it to the bank we'll finish top 3.

[Mr MO]

16 minutes ago, bt50 said:

When COVID hit and the cap was slashed clubs were left with two options; take the best available options on the table, or hold out in the hope the market would open up a bit again if Australia could get back on top of Corona.
We opted for the first option, which is in effect playing it safe, but we already had a GF competing squad so it was the sensible thing to do.
 

Some of the other clubs have got a bit lucky and theyre now able to attract these 32-35 yo spaniards etc, but people are forgetting what the clubs have lost and are being dazzled by a name. Our squad is far, far deeper than everyone elses except perhaps Macarthur and is proven. Even Sydney will drop back to the pack a bit unless they can find an adequate replacement for Le Fondre.

I'm not only confident we'll make finals, I think you can take it to the bank we'll finish top 3.

Fair comment and I share your view on how our squad came about.

I think the issue we are raising, have we risen the bar to say are we going to win this and play a part in the ACL!!! Is there room for a quality injection? The players list suggest only 19 players.

I don’t see ourselves as a definite GF participant again, too many flaws at the back and a little too lucky too often to with unconvincing wins to my liking. Saying that with Delbridge gone and the Austrian fit this might change at the back.

Edited November 26, 2020 by Mr MO

[jw1739]

@bt50 Hope your right there my friend. I'm with others that think we're a bit short up front. Time will tell!