Alessandro Del Piero is irreplaceable, Graham Arnold says, but the new Sydney FC coach has vowed to bring a similarly good player to the A-League club.
Arnold on Thursday was unveiled as Sydney’s eighth coach in nine seasons, with the former Central Coast mentor saying his three-year deal was a “dream come true”.
The former Socceroos’ coach replaces Frank Farina, who was sacked barely two weeks ago after failing to get the club beyond the opening week of the A-League finals.
Arnold prided himself on winning the championship and minor premiership during his three seasons at the cash-strapped Mariners without a big-name marquee player.
He now says he’s excited to be at a club where he will have a chequebook at his disposal.
He’ll look to fill the foreign and Australian marquee spots with Del Piero and Brett Emerton’s departures leaving both vacant.
The likes of Nicolas Anelka, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and Diego Forlan have been thrown up as possible targets.
“I wouldn’t say I was never a fan of marquees. I just worked at a club that could never afford to have a marquee,” he said.
“But if you look at what Alessandro Del Piero did for this league and for this club, it’s massive.
“We have to take our time to get the right ones who can have an impact like Alessandro did.
“We’ll never match that type of player with our next marquee in status but we have to try and match that in performance.”
Arnold, who had been in talks with several clubs including Newcastle since recently parting ways with his Japanese side, had rejected a lucrative offer from the Sky Blues in 2012 but said now the timing and the terms were right.
The opportunity to have complete control in rebuilding the side, the resources he would have and the addition of FFA technical director Han Berger to the board, he said, made it “an easy decision”.
Arnold will have to decide the fate of the likes of Richard Garcia, Milos Dimitrijevic, Matt Jurman, Joel Chianese and Matt Thompson who are among eight players coming off contract.
Chief executive Tony Pignata confirmed Mariners young gun Bernie Ibini, who is on loan from his Chinese outfit, had been approached as a target.
Chairman Scott Barlow acknowledged the club’s incredibly high turnover in coaches but said they were committed to a long-term plan with Arnold.
He said Arnold, who had taken the Mariners to the Asian Champions League, had been set the same lofty expectation with Sydney, which would require a top-two finish or a championship.
“We want to be competing in Asia regularly and, clearly, that requires us to have domestic success,” Barlow said.
“Having said that, patience is key.”
A lack of identity is often thrown up as a reason for Sydney’s lack of success in recent seasons.
Arnold, intent on bringing an exciting, attacking brand of football to the club, said Sydney had to move on from its ‘Bling FC’ tag.
“Now the identity has to be that we are the biggest football club in this country,” he said.
“We have to believe that – we have to show that … and the only way of doing that is getting success on the pitch.
“It will be made clear to the players that I haven’t come here to be happy with mediocrity. I’ve come here to achieve success.”
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