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Transfer Talk, Rumours and Speculation


jw1739

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Hope our "36 scouts" are scouring the Asian Cup for some talent.

I liked the look of Ehsan Hajsafi tonight for Iran. More than likely well out of our price range, but seems to have a great left boot, and can play left back.

There'll probably be a couple of players in the Asian Cup who'd do a runner from their National Team to avoid prosecution (or persecution?) when they go home...hopefully they're better than Ali Abbas though...

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Would be pretty thrilled if Franjic joined us. We need a fullback just like him.

 

If not much more defensive recruitment could be done, I'd be pretty happy with:

 

Chapman  Kisnorbo Wielaert Franjic

 

                        Velaphi

 

For the remainder of the season. Chapman as a 'stay at home'/defensive LB, and Franjic providing another dimension to the team as an attacking RB.

 

 

I think it's hard to overstate how big an improvement Franjic would be to the team's play, and to the team's attack. That excellent cross that Franjic provided for Luongo on Friday is exactly the sort of thing that Melbourne City is lacking. Franjic providing that sort of crossing, and general support in attack, for the likes of Kennedy as our striker would = guaranteed goals.

 

 

Might be too much to ask, but if Melbourne City then could bring in an attacker like Babalj to replace Williams that would be awesome. I just looked at the stats and Williams' passing accuracy in the attacking half has been 68% this season, which effectively means that one third of Melbourne City's attacks go astray because Williams' can't hold up play and pass the ball off consistently. Williams IMO is a classic striker for a counter-attacking team (as he was at North Queensland Fury, and as he showed with his impressive counter-attacking goal against Sydney FC last season). He doesn't fit in a team that plays attacking and possession football, so if we had a player more suited for that football like Kennedy and then Babalj then I'm sure the team's attack would be much better.

 

 

Never nice to see players move on. But Williams was on marquee wages for the past 3 seasons, and is probably taking up a big slice of the salary cap this season. Especially now that Williams is no longer the 1st choice striker with Kennedy joining the team, it would be a worthwhile and impressive shakeup of the team to move Williams on and bring in the likes of a Socceroo fullback like Franjic. I'm sure these changes would improve the team, so I'm hoping they are more than just rumours.

Edited by Murfy1
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Can't wait for the Brisbane connection.

 

"Redmayne rolls it out to Franjic, Franjic to Paartalu, Paartalu to Murdocca, Murdocca goes on a mazy run around for 5 minutes, then back passes to Paartalu, sideways to Franjic, Franjic to Redmayne.....and repeat as many times as you like"....

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.@NewcastleJetsFC release defender Sam Gallaway to 'pursue opportunity at alternative club' - http://ffaus.co/1Bf9A5r 

 

I know the article says that he's been linked to WSW, but with his mate Chapman joining us, maybe Connor has convinced him to travel south of the border...? I can't say I've watched him enough to know if he's as good as Chappy...

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I suggested a Portuguese defender a few pages back:

 

Nuno Pinto is a relatively young (by A-League Visa player standards) Portuguese LB with a good CV, who's only a free agent because he made an unfortunate decision to join a club in Ukraine's 1st division, in Crimea, in early 2014.

 

Pinto also has a connection to Ukraine with his last club (whom he played for in 2014) being Crimean side SC Tavriya Simferopol. Maybe it's no coincidence that Melbourne City's final friendly match is against a Ukrainian club..

 

Another seemingly good Portuguese LB that's also a free agent is Marco Ramos, formerly of Auxerre (BTW his Wikipedia page is out of date. He played most games last season).

 

 

Just good to hear in the first place that the club's looking to sign another Visa player, and another defender as well.

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Expect a few departures from WSW in the coming weeks and those 2 players slotting into the vacant slots on the roster. Although I'm pretty certain Gallaway would be available asap as it'd be idiotic to get a release from a contract without another contract starting asap. 

Pretty sure Mullen will be moved on and they'd be crazy to turn down the big dollars for Juric with a few months left on his contract.

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So just listening to the sst podcast. It fleshes out those rumors. Apparently Williams went to the club to ask to be released. Franjic's preference is us but it seems we will only have the money in the cap if williams go. And apparently we are very close to signing a lb from another club in the aleague who is a client of one of the hosts who is a player agent

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There's always this nagging feeling that we're sitting on our hands while others are out there making decisions, but I guess that under the new ownership we're not going to hear anything until it's all signed, sealed and delivered.

 

If we don't improve the squad in this window IMO it's going to be a tough second half of the season.

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So just listening to the sst podcast. It fleshes out those rumors. Apparently Williams went to the club to ask to be released. Franjic's preference is us but it seems we will only have the money in the cap if williams go. And apparently we are very close to signing a lb from another club in the aleague who is a client of one of the hosts who is a player agent

Does that mean we are not getting the Portugese lb?

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The way I see it the squad will be significantly improved with Joshua Kennedy and a fully fit Robi Koren going into the second half of the season (a fully fit Connor Chapman will be a real plus as well).

 

But still I'm tipping Melbourne City to strengthen this month. Singaporean media believes Safuwan is trialling: "It is understood the 23-year-old Singapore star is currently on trial with the Australian side until next Monday" (http://www.tnp.sg/sports/soccer/safuwan-not-out-place-melbourne-city-trial).

 

So that together with Davutovic reporting that Melbourne City has been looking at a Portuguese defender, and SST saying that an Ivan Franjic to City move might be on the cards, I'm pretty confident that some recruitment will be done this month (esp. after Kalmar was moved on).

 

 

The only issue is how constrained the club's recruitment is, primarily due to the lack of money left inside the salary cap (and hence the limited decent options the club can sign due to the limited money it has). I'm pretty confident there will be a signing, but it may be something of a budget signing of uncertain quality. However, if another player gets released (like Williams) then some pretty exciting recruitment becomes possible, and things can really happen this January.

Edited by Murfy1
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Bulut and Gallaway have signed for, and are eligible to play in, WSW's 2015 Asian Cup campaign. Not eligible to play in A-League.

 

http://www.a-league.com.au/article/wanderers-sign-bulut-and-gallaway-for-acl/qbbib3xdxqsr1lvi4xm07gtwd

What are they going to do until then? Seems a waste.

They're obviously going to be registered for the A-League ASAP, just like Kalmar will be, they're just waiting to get rid of a few players.

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Irrespective of salary cap I can't see that we can sign both Safuwan and a Portuguese LB for this season because that would make six visa players, and there's no substantive indication that we are actually intending to release an existing visa player. A vague rumour about Germano, but nothing more than that. We could consider Safuwan for next season, but surely our priority is a LB?

 

I find it interesting that with only 20 players in the squad we are still in trouble with the salary cap. Let's hope the rumour about Williams wanting out is true. If I were the manager it would have taken me all of a microsecond before I said "yes."

Edited by jw1739
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Before the game he played in City's post on Facebook said safuwan being there was part of a development opportunity with Singapore or something along those lines.

Doesn't speak to me that we are looking to sign the guy. Probably some sort of deal to bring Singaporean guys over to train with City and charge the Singapore FA for coaching services etc. Especially if they are looking at ways to reduce losses under ffp it would make sense wouldn't it?

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When can germano apply to be an Australian citizen? if he can be an aus citizen that'll free up a visa spot.

If we get rid of him that will free up a spot too.

TBH it doesnt matter how good you are if you never make it onto the pitch.

 

But then kingofhearts can't roll out Germano's injuries as an excuse for JVS's acute underperformance as a manager.

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