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Opinion

If you need star quality to attract fans, the new A-League season is off to a good start

21st July, 2022
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Expert
21st July, 2022
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With a little extra cash in the bank, A-League clubs have been on the hunt for the talent required to make a serious charge towards the 2022/23 championship.

The goal posts appear to have shifted a little, after the injection of funds off the back of the $140 million Silver Lake investment in the Australian game.

A talented crop of younger than usual foreign imports are already headed down under, with more expected to do the same in the coming weeks.

The new faces are even more in demand after a large number of talented domestically based players whose wares were exposed through the COVID period, have been lured abroad after impressing at A-League and Olyroo level.

Consistent with a generally positive feeling around football in Australia right now, the men currently settling in or due to arrive in the very short term, look to have attributes and qualities destined to add much to the league.

Nani is obviously the most significant of the signings thus far, with Melbourne Victory purchasing a player universally considered to be far too good when compared to A-League standards.

Nani (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

Yet that is exactly the perception that the new funds provided to clubs will hopefully demolish, with a collection of talented new men already keen to impress.

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With three months remaining until the season begins in early October, the hope is that there will be another wave of signings that further ignite the competition.

Yet so far, so good for the A-League, with a few interesting men already having agreed to terms and keen to make their mark in Australia.

Charlie Austin looks to be a fire cracker waiting to go off in Brisbane, with his love of his new home city palpable on social media and his family set to arrive in the coming weeks to share in the exciting adventure he has undertaken.

At his best, Austin scores goals and has done so consistently through a career extending beyond 400 games, one including more than 200 successful strikes on target.

If the Roar fans aren’t excited about his arrival, I’m not sure exactly what they would require to be so.

Perth Glory fans need all the encouragement they can get after the disappointment of the season just past. That hope may come in the form of Israeli 28-year-old Ben Azubel, their new attacking weapon who scored at a goal every other game for Hapoel Ra’anana in the season just past.

However, the breaking news of the arrival of 27-year-old Irishman Aaron McEneff could well be the best business decision the club has made in some time.

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Like Azubel, McEneff offers an attacking prowess that the Glory have lacked in recent times. Whilst his time at Hearts in Scotland may not have proven as profitable as the club would have hoped, his talent is unquestioned and in the right environment, destined to prosper.

The A-League might be exactly what McEneff needs to rebuild and ignite his career, with his highlights package suggesting that the A-League will be a level at which he will excel.

Perth will also enjoy the presence of Mark Beevers, the Englishman who has spent time at Sheffield Wednesday, Millwall, Bolton and Peterborough and now arrives at the club as a fully seasoned pro and ready to instil some of the hardened professionalism that he brings in his kit bag to a club in desperate need of it.

Along with the return of Matthew Millar to Australian shores at Macarthur FC and the re-signing of Riku Danzaki in Brisbane, the upcoming season appears to be gathering together a collection of stars well worth the price of admission.

Sydney FC have announced their newest addition in the form of Spanish defender Diego Caballo, who at 28 comes to Australia with obvious quality despite recent lower league play in Europe and Tom Beadling returns to Australia after extended stays at Dunfermline and Barrow in the UK.

The 26-year-old Beadling has close connections with Australia having lived here prior to his departure abroad and the Wanderers will be hoping his presence tightens up a defence that undoubtedly requires tightening.

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Things are brewing nicely for the latest A-League season, with a few extra dollars to spend on players producing quality signings and the world noticing the talent that is emanating from down under, thus, providing opportunity for our best young players.

Hopefully the pattern continues and the season begins as one littered with names demanding interest. After all, star players make a league and Australia finally has a few names worthy of that billing.

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