- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
One month after leading Melbourne Victory to a historic A-League double, Mark Milligan has bid goodbye to the club.
Milligan will join Abu Dhabi-based Arabian Gulf League club Baniyas on a two-year deal from next month, ending speculation about his future with the Australian champions.
Baniyas has been a long-term suitor of Milligan, 29, making two previous attempts to sign the Socceroo in previous transfer windows.
On Tuesday, reports from the Middle East suggested a deal to finally take Milligan was over the line and on Wednesday, Victory confirmed as much.
Victory coach Kevin Muscat said Milligan was a “wonderful servant for Melbourne Victory who has led by example at every opportunity”.
“He won the Victory Medal in 2012/13 and played a major role in our Premiership-Championship double last season,” Muscat said.
“The offer from Baniyas presents a significant opportunity for Mark and his family that he would like to pursue.”
Victory chief executive Ian Robson said the “compelling” offer was likely to be lucrative.
“This is part of a reality of a game when you showcase players on the world stage,” he told Melbourne radio station SEN.
Victory are understood to have received a fee of around $1 million for the transfer, and now must ponder how to replace the influential midfielder.
Milligan occupied the club’s Australian marquee position, meaning if Victory can find the right Australian replacement, they will have no limits on wages they can throw at a replacement.
But A-League clubs are yet to have the certainty they need on the salary cap for the upcoming season, with a proposed `veterans allowance’ and a mooted modest increase to total player payments wrapped up in ongoing negotiations with Professional Footballers Australia.
The current collective bargaining agreement expires in a week, and with no deal agreed to replace it, Robson has urged negotiations to be swift.
“We hope (it) will be a six-year collective agreement that would give some real certainty to the clubs and to the players as to what the cap looks like, and what the other arrangements around the cap look like, with marquee players, foreign visa players et cetera,” he said.
The future of 10-year player Archie Thompson depends on an agreement containing relaxed rules for payment of veteran players outside the cap.
“We made a formal submission many months ago putting forward the case for a veterans allowance,” Robson said.
“We’re really confident and comfortable that we’re going to get an outcome … that would see Archie staying at the club.”
Milligan joins Nathan Coe, Andrew Nabbout and Jordan Brown in leaving Victory in the off season.
Goalkeeper Danny Vukovic has been the club’s sole addition in the transfer window.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.