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Michael Thwaite to Melbourne Victory
Michael Thwaite to Melbourne Victory
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Michael Thwaite to Melbourne Victory
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Heineken
Heineken
Posted 14 Years Ago
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There's a couple threads in AF on this.
WOLLONGONG WOLVES FOR A-LEAGUE EXPANSION!
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dingyv03
dingyv03
Posted 14 Years Ago
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Quote:
Melbourne Victory has targeted Gold Coast defender Michael Thwaite as the man to replace retiring club legend Kevin Muscat.
Bleiberg buoyed by youth team
Coach Ernie Merrick is prepared to offer the Gold Coast United skipper, who made 16 appearances for Victory in its championship 2008-2009 season, a three-year deal to link up with Adrian Leijer in what would be a formidable central defensive pairing.
Thwaite, 28, is contracted until the end of next season with Gold Coast, but is believed to be concerned about the long-term viability of the club, whose owner Clive Palmer is offering out-of contract players only one-year extensions and plans to draft a raft of youth team players into the senior side next season.
Were Thwaite to be allowed to leave it would be another body blow to a club which had lost five players in the lead-up to its preliminary final defeat to Central Coast: defenders Dino Djulbic, Bas van den Brink and Steve Pantelidis, midfielder Zenon Caravella and marquee Jason Culina.
With Shane Smeltz also certain to leave – most likely to Perth Glory as the club’s $330,000 marquee signing in the absence of Robbie Fowler – Gold Coast coach Miron Bleiberg is left with a massive rebuilding job with scant resources at his disposal.
From being a club on the brink of Asian Champions League football in 2012, Gold Coast is now left with a decimated playing roster, the worst crowds in the competition and an owner whose aspiration of being at the helm of an ACL combatant has been scuppered.
Bleiberg insisted he knew nothing of Melbourne’s interest in Thwaite, saying: “He is under contract to us and this is the first I have heard of any interest from Melbourne.
“Michael is our captain and I believe he is happy here.”
Any unofficial approach from Melbourne could in breach of Football Federation Australia rules which prohibit players being courted by rival clubs until the final six months of their contracts.
Thwaite meanwhile refused to comment on the issue at the A-League’s awards night in Sydney on Sunday but Smeltz, who has a raft of A-league sides chasing him, was more forthcoming.
“I’m weighing up my options and there’s has been a bit of interest from various sides. I will make a decision within the next 10 days or so,” he told The World Game.
Perth remains favourite, with Smeltz also spooked by the thought of remaining on the Coast under a regime of short-term deals.
Bleiberg admitted: “Building the side up is going to be a big challenge but I have done it before with some success and I’ll just have to do it for a second time.
“A lot of players I brought here in the first place weren’t big names and were maybe unwanted by other clubs but they flourished, so we will find more.”
Bleiberg insisted that while Palmer is shaving costs back to the bone in 2011-2012, he has been given permission to make a number of signings to augment the promotion of rising young stars like Ben Halloran, Zac Anderson, Joshua Brilliante and Chris Harold.
http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league/news/1047595/Victory-out-to-snare-Thwaite
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