DEPARTING PLAYERS:

• Cameron Devlin (unsuccessful with negotiations)
• Luke DeVere (not re-signed)
• Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi (released from contract)
• Charles Lokoli-Ngoy (not re-signed)
• Liam McGing (not re-signed)
• Mirza Muratovic (not re-signed)
• Matthew Ridenton (not re-signed)

• 
  

Any word where Devlin might end up? Big loss for the Nix.

Jets 

Ota staying at Perth.

Maybe Perth are playing a back 5 with Clisby being a LCB and Ota being a LWB.

Macarthur FC has today confirmed six members of its inaugural A-League squad will depart the club following the 2020/21 season.

Ivan Franjic, Loic Puyo, Walter Scott, Yianni Nicolaou, Milislav Popovic and Kyle Cimenti are the players moving on.

https://www.macarthurfc.com.au/news/bulls-confirm-six-players-depart-club

I wonder if Franjic will retire? I also hope they sign Cleur as a replacement so we can see how good he actually is.

Wanderers have let go of Grozos, McDonald, Zeigler, Muller and Al-Taay while James' loan spell has ended.

I think there's a strong chance that he's Ota's back-up. With Charlesworth reportedly not interested in dipping into his pocket, I think CCM will be signing a cheaper replacement than Clisby, and wouldn't have offered him an extension. After all, he just had a good season, so he'd have wanted improved terms, etc. If Perth play a back-5, you could be right regarding him playing at LCB.


I'd love for him to finish his career at Somers Street, but if I remember right, he's always indicated that he'll finish his career at Dinamo [St. Albans].


What a dud this guy was. was brought in because he didn't count towards the foreign quota, but the WSW could've signed a better CB from the NPL NSW if we're honest. Guys like Paul Galimi, Themba Muata Marlow, Adrian Vlastelica: they would all have performed at a similar or better level than what Ziegler ever offered. I thought Müller was a decent player, but he was nowhere near as effective for them this season as he was the season before.

Yared Abetew has signed for Newcastle Olympic.

Ryan Strain has signed for Maccabi Haifa. 

Con Ouzounidis has signed a three year deal at Esbjerg.

Really nice moves for the two players mentioned above. 

Joining danish second-tier is a good move?

Not ideally, but you'd hope he gets consistent minutes - and a second tier Danish team can hopefully do that. Just up to him now to show that being in the Everton academy for what seems like ages actually meant anything.

Pretty excited to see how Maccabi use Strain if they do at all.  Wouldn't be surprised if they loaned him out tbh, but hopefully he stays and does super well and pushes for a Socceroos call-up.

According to Val (key words there), Newcastle are close to signing "a regular starting XI centre back" from Adelaide while Gatt is reporting that Najjarine will go to WSW. Not sure why he'd go there tbh and I can't see Robinson playing him much.

I assumed he'd walk straight into their XI. Their right back hasn't been capped by Israel at any level and they are ranked 85th in the world.

The issue is he's their 6th foreigner. They can only play 5 in the league. Meaning either one is leaving or they will rotate him in domestic football and play him in Europe. 
Also, I think you somewhat underestimate the strength of their national team. Israel's national team is as good or probably better than the Socceroos. The likes of Weissman, Dabbur, Saba, Glazer, Zahavi, Elmkies, Bitton, Peretz, Natkho and Solomon would walk into the Socceroos starting team. 

Yeah I have no idea how he’ll stack up against their other foreigners tbh.

Of those Israeli players you listed, I’ve only ever heard of two of them and their recent results aren’t anything special either.

Most foreign football fans probably wouldn't have heard of Hrustic, Karacic, Souttar, Sainsbury, Behich etc. 

From Ray Gatt on Twitter

Rami Najjarine apparently close to joining WSW after rejecting the CCM offer, not sure about this as WSW are a bit of a mess with their first team.

Adelaide United’s defensive exodus appears set to continue, with central defender Jordan Elsey set for a move to the Newcastle Jets.

Elsey was believed to have been a denied a move overseas at the end of the 2019/20 season, and with his contract expiring this week the 27-year-old has turned down a deal at the Reds to pursue a new challenge.

Losing out on a required player in favour to an A-League rival will be seen as a significant blow for the Reds, with Adelaide’s offer reportedly falling someway short of the one on the table from the Jets.

Elsey has played 141 games in all competitions for the Reds since making his debut in 2013, winning the FFA Cup in 2018 and 2019, as well as making 17 appearances in Adelaide’s championship winning season in 2016.

Elsey’s departure follows on from the loss of Ryan Strain, who has signed for Israeli Premier League club Maccabi Haifa for an undisclosed fee.

With Strain’s departure Adelaide will finally be able to deploy Spainard Javi Lopez in his natural position of right-back, while left-back represents a significant issue with Ryan Kitto and Josh Cavallo both preferring to play higher up the pitch, the Reds have not had a natural left-back on their books since Michael Maria returned to the Netherlands last year.

Tomi Juric, Michael Jakobsen, Michael Marrone, Nathan Konstandopoulos, Pacifique Niyongabire, Yared Abetew, Dakota Ochsenham and Noah Smith meanwhile will all see their contract’s expire this week.

Juric made it clear upon signing for the Reds that he would look for an overseas deal at the end of the season, however an injury plagued campaign could see him decide to extend his time in South Australia.

Jakobsen was offered a similar deal to Elsey by the Reds but it is not expected to be accepted, while Marrone is also expected to end his long stint at the club.

Yared Abetew has secured a move to Northern New South Wales NPL side Newcastle Olympic.

The club will now have a serious rebuilding job on its hands, while the search for a new Director of Football to replace Bruce Djite is ongoing. As reported by Kick360 earlier this month a former Reds player is believed to have been offered the role.

https://kick360.com.au/adelaide-braced-for-defensive-rebuild-as-vice-captain-jets-off/

Have to say I'm very disappointed with us offering lowball contracts to key players and starting a completely unnecessary rebuild.

If we were to lose Elsey, I wonder if we could bring Dylan McGowan back given he hasn't exactly set the world alight at WSW.

Wow I'm genuinely shocked Elsey is gone.

For all his faults I thought he was improving with age and was an Adelaide boy through and through.
I always just assumed he would be one of our 2 CBs till he retired.

Really strange to lose him to another A-League club, I can only assume our offer was disrespectfully low or Newcastle are very desperate and offered silly money to him.

Im actually really annoyed by this.

Not because I think Elsey is the best CB but he has been around the club so long, through 2(?) knee recos and is a local boy fans can identify with.

It's crazy to lose him to another A-League side for what's probably $10k a year extra and have to replace him with someone of no doubt similar or worse quality.

This is what the rumours are suggesting.

Carl seems to be purging the squad of local players with the likes of Konstand, Smith, Dakota, Pacifique and Kitto all rumoured to be shown the door and I don’t like it one bit.

I mean if this is the way they are headed it's just another aimless change in direction that I'm sure no fans really want to see.

A club like us is never going to spend enough to be anything but 4th-8th place teams so if there is little to no local connection then I don't see the point of watching them play with any real fan loyalty.

I really thought Smith was worth persisting with at the very least from that list. Would love to know what happened to him to be dropped so suddenly after showing a fair bit of promise in a position we have a real lack of depth in

As a Jets fan, I'm not particularly fussed to miss out on Najjarine - all the talent in the world, just doesn't have much drive. Also not too excited by Elsey, seems like a Taylor Regan-esque signing only not a local so harder to overlook his faults. Interested to see who Papas can lure in! 

I get massive Taylor Regan vibes from Elsey too! They're similar style players, both swear constantly on the field, and even look similar.

Elsey has improved his passing range quite considerably in the last few seasons.
He is a step above Regan ability wise.

To me he is a very capable A-League level 2nd CB. Always played his best with Jakobsen directing traffic.

When he had to be the leader with Timetheu next to him (for example) it all felt a bit chaotic and last ditch.

I really thought Elsey would kick on a few years ago, but imo he hasn't eliminated the brain snaps from his game and seems an easy windup for a red card. You're right, though, he's a decent enough A-League CB and I can definitely think of worse signings we could have made (um, Timotheu?). If Elsey, Topor and Donachie are our CBs going into next season, I don't see an out and out leader (as much as I love NTS). Donachie could well be on his way elsewhere too.