Victory land Portuguese star Nani

If we get all 6 of those clubs signing marquees similar to Nani then next season will be huge. When ADP travelled with Sydney FC playing away games it lifted the attendances of the home teams, so a signing like that doesn't benefit only the team he plays for, it lifts the profile of the entire league.

I don't agree with Danny Townsend at all. Nani at 35 "genuinely world class"? And "our game needs a sugar hit?" Has it not had enough sugar hits already? Will he even score a goal? I doubt he'll get a few. And that probably counts as a good marquee signing.

hope it works

Andy, I hope you are right, give them NOTHING.

Working holiday for Nani, he will deff put in minimal effort that will produce minimal results. FLOP!

Yep just about how I see as well. Both a real pleasure to watch for SFC especially live.

Both Ninkovic and Broich delivered their respective coaches silverware. I don't think either team would have done this without them. Arnie was especially blessed to have Ninkovic on his books in an above average team while Ange did a wonderful scouting job to pick up Broich when in his own words was at a dead end in his football career. Both coaches built teams around these two great A-League players and tasted due success.

That's right Mark. Nani was playing Seria A for Venezia. That's a big distinction from people trying to confuse others by saying he was playing in Serie B.

great debate to have between the 2. del piero is known world wide, played for a massive club side and did excellet internationally with his country and was supurb for sydney in 2 seasons costing over 4 million dollars. ninkovic was not well known and didnt have the success at club or international level (he did play for a massive european team though) but on the flip side - he has been fantastic for the better part of several seasons in the league (regardless of the bitter exit from sydney) and was not on an eye watering salary longevity is important in this debate as is the $$$ associated, i would say del piero is the best big name marquee (player on a multi million dollar contract) to ever grace the a league. but as the best overall import considering things i mentioned above - my pick is ninkovic, just marginally over broich

I would discount his time at Venezia due to it being such a short stint and them fighting to stay up. His time in Orlando is what we should/hope to see from him. Overall a great signing IMO, just the sort of boost the league needs as we go into a non-COVID affected season. Not sure how he’ll actually go in Poppa’s system, but from an overall media boost it’s a positive.

i think its well known that fabregas has a league interest - but theres a couple of major hurdles with his signing (body and $$$$) physically his body is showing the signs of playing professionally for 17 years, he had a terrible time in monaco with injuries and australias notoriously hard pitches might see him on the treatment table more than the actual pitch - is a 2 million+ gamble worth it? (i think clubs are a bit more reluctant with injury prone players, given the sturridge debacle) in saying that, macarthur are the closest to landing him, but thats not a given. Sydney are sniffing about still (since they wont get arzani and are unlikely to snag rogic) but they are also in negotiatians with rodwell as for city i'd much rather see them promote from within, now that griffiths departure is confirmed, have they even adequately replaced metcalfe yet????? van der veene is a very creative midfielder (much like berengeur) but city still have an issue in that engine room. im not overly familiar with baltocchi's career (plenty of players have been success's in australia with poor playing CV's though), but he is definitely "diminutive" compared to griffiths and even metcalfe - i dont think hes got the endurance and physically of both former players either as well

I absolutely agree that the fit needs to be right. Clubs should be looking at a big name marquee, mixed with Ninkovic, Delpierre (the French fullback) and Berisha type players and add in young players like Yengi, Popovic, Tilio Talbot, etc would be a perfect mix. That should get the crowds in and the marquee should be leaving a legacy in terms of player development.

Ninkovic was the best player to play for SFC. Del Piero was the greatest player to play for SFC. Who was the best signing, well I loved both for obvious different reasons, but can say one was better because of longevity.

True, once you start splashing the cash, you discover it doesn't go as far as you thought. If each club was given, say, $2.5 mill to attract one name player - that's $30 mill disappearing in one fell swoop. History tells us, some bring the money back in plus interest, the majority don't really have that sort of impact on the bank account, even if they have a very good season.

He's a very fit professional, I think age which not matter unless you are expecting a flying winger of his youth. This guy has great skill.

Apparently 3 clubs interested in Fabregas including City. Do you think he would fit City's system? Also had word on City being interested in Cristian Baltocchi, although not a name has played before in England and Italy, would he be better suited to City's system?

Venezia was Serie A last season. Got relegated to Serie B for this season. Nani did not play well for them. The previous few seasons he was with Orlando City in MLS, he killed it there. So there is a question mark on where he is at at 35 years old. Is the Serie A season where he is at? Or the MLS season a better reflection of how he will play in the A-League. Real question mark

you have to be extremely prudent when you're not one of the big boys with money to throw around and absolutely must do yor due dilligence when looking at a potential visa player forget speaking to ex team mates and coaches of the player you're interested in - you'll also take into account testimonials from there neighbours, 4th grade teachers and local bar owner in terms of what sort of character the player is. :laughing:

So what exactly is the benefit of getting a marquee then as you argue they are going to be a defensive liability. In fact its quite clear the opposition clubs benefit twice as much, they get a bigger home crowd when the opposition comes to visit with their marquee and dont have the defensive liability in their team. Who can forget Adelaide when Del Piero was advertised to be coming over and then didnt come, it was a sell out but some people didnt come once they found out . Adelaide has always been about self interest, didnt Romario skip away games apart from one in his guest stint, so Adelaide kept the benefit to themselves. Well we should wait till Nani actually plays to judge him. My preference would be to find another Berisha, Fred not a marquee, an unknown just reaching their prime, these two were great non stop pressers terrorising the opposition when they first came over, certainly before Broich, Castro or Ninkovic who were ok defensively but nowhere near the other two. Melbourne Victory they are not a defensive team in terms of sitting back, they have a good defensive record because they press constantly, certainly not because of their keeper, so Nani depending on how much he presses then thats an issue. If Nani is like Bobo then MV are in big trouble, at the other end of the scale Brosque was a good presser at an advanced age.

i'm not anti 'marquee' by any stretch of the imagination, but it needs to make sense in going to the right club that will get the best out of the players skillset. - nani to victory purely based on how victory play doesnt make much sense to me i wonder if Nani/agent got the impression that'd be playing in an attacking system after chatting to the victory heirachy - he's no doubt had a culture shock in training this week lol. a better signing for the victory would've been fabregas, who would be excellent pulling the strings in midfield in this type of system (but since they have brillante & brimmer, fabregas was never a possibility) Im not disputing that Nani's had a great club and international career, and looks to be in great shape physically and is saying all the right things in press conferences so far however its a lot of money to spend on an attacking minded player in a defensive system and has the potential to be the next big marquee flop at victory (joining kewell and honda)