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Sydney FC vice-chairman Scott Barlow has backed up coach Vitezslav Lavicka’s intention of not releasing World Cup hopefuls Simon Colosimo and Alex Brosque in January.
Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek hinted this week that any player not playing regularly ahead of the World Cup, which starts in June, would find it difficult to be selected for the tournament.
And with the A-League campaign ending in mid-February, it seems the only way for local-based players such as the Sydney pair to book their seat to South Africa is to negotiate a move overseas during next month’s international transfer window.
But after Brosque’s starring role in front of Verbeek at the Sydney Football Stadium in Wednesday night’s 1-0 win over the Central Coast Mariners, Lavicka said the pair wouldn’t be leaving the club.
And Barlow on Thursday said none of the club’s players will be be released before the end of the current campaign.
“Everyone at Sydney FC is very focused on finishing the A-League season as strongly as we can and on a successful finals campaign,” Barlow said.
“To do this we must have all of our players available.
“We will not be releasing players before the end of our finals campaign.”
Barlow said while holding onto the players until the end of the A-League season would make any moves outside the transfer window difficult, the club would look at options to help the pair achieve their World Cup dream.
“The club will help Simon, Alex and other players anyway we can to help them secure overseas loan deals after our finals campaign has ended,” he said.
“I understand that the timing creates issues with transfer windows but as I understand it there are some options – for example the Chinese Super League, some Scandinavian leagues and potentially others.”
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