Melbourne Victory's Billy Celeski challenges Adelaide United's Sasa Ognenovski in the A-League football final match, at the Telstra Dome, in Melbourne, Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009. Victory beat United 1-0. AAP Image/Martin Philbey
The A-League finals could be tarnished this season by the departure of a string of Socceroos wannabees seeking January loans to enhance their World Cup prospects.
Perth Glory owner Tony Sage admitted he’s prepared to let his fringe Socceroos trio, Chris Coyne, Mile Sterjovski and Jacob Burns, head off in January to further their World Cup hopes.
And Sydney FC’s in-form Simon Colosimo was questioned about a similar move too and admitted if Pim Verbeek indicated he was close to a recall, he’d look for a January loan.
Sage said: “Do you think if we denied these boys the opportunity, they’d be happy to keep playing with Perth Glory? I don’t think so.”
The Glory owner added, “There’s no use taking this any further if Pim doesn’t want to use them.”
Since their respective returns to the A-League, all three of the Perth Glory’s Socceroos have been overlooked by Verbeek.
But a recall is not completely out of the question, especially for Coyne, considering Australia’s uncertain options at the back.
Interestingly, Sage added, “We’ve been well aware of this situation for a long time, we’ve been talking to lots of clubs in Asia, and if it means letting the players go before the finals, then, absolutely, we’ll be doing that.”
What is most curious about that comment is that last season, loan moves by Australian players were made into Asia later than January.
Sydney FC’s Mark Bridge was loaned to Tianjin Teda in February, Brisbane Roar’s Matt McKay to Changchun Yatai in March and Joel Griffiths to Beijing Guoan in March too.
Indeed, the Chinese Super League typically kicks off in mid-to-late March, thus the reason why the transfer window remains open. The same can be said for Korea’s K-League and Japan’s J.League, too.
The A-League regular season ends on February 14 and the finals will run until mid-March, with the Grand Final set for March 20.
So why does is seem the ball is in a different court this season?
Why all of a sudden must these players move in January rather than later, when it’s more convenient for them, especially considering these Asian clubs wouldn’t have started their seasons yet?
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