Not seen it on here yet, unless I missed it but Skysports have apparently reported that Robert Koren is in talks to join Melbourne City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Koren

Would be a very good signing for City and the A-League. A quality midfielder, and with one or two years left in him.

Would be a better signing than Lampard. Villa alone can draw you the crowds, Koren would be key to leading you on a title chase.

At least he would likely be here for longer than Lampard.

Won't have the fan appeal to the broader audience, but may well deliver far more for the club on the park with a longer stay.

Zero fan appeal or marquee status, but would control the midfield incredibly well. Would be very useful at the right price. City are looking at a number of players over there and some of the names in the hat have looked pretty good, could be a very dangerous side even without Villa and Lampard.

Could be like Ono in that regard.

Initially there was next to no broader market appeal but ended up blitzing it, getting people interested to come to matches and making a brand of himself and the club :)

Sometimes its a better strategy than the big hype players.

Has captained his national side (small European nation) many times before
Kinda like mifsud :-"

On a serious note agree he'd be up there with villa and lampard in terms of football impact, if they get him/lamps city just needs to sign up a decent defender/goalie and they'd be right up there as a contender on paper at least

Melbourne City are putting together a nice unit, lets see if they can be managed into a wining outfit.

And captained a premier league club, kinda like Gerrard :-"

Not the big name player I'm sure everyone in the a-league wanted but would be a quality signing.

I disagree tbh, people were only complaining about signing him as a marquee because the alternative was Ballack.

Melbourne City are becoming harder to beat by the day on paper.

You've been flogging yourself over that idea for a while now, I take it you've jumped on the bandwagon?

If you asked most people I am sure they would not have known that much about him. I'm not talking about football people, who tend to know many players anyway, but the broader market.

In this case there may well be the same dissapointment, especially given the clubs owner and links to big name players, but it could be a very smart move. We will see.

100%
Ono was a nobody in marquee terms, but he's the kind of player that people want to come back to see. I remember locals at my pub asking me to tell them about "that little, bald Jap bloke that all them Wanderers fans bang on about".

He definitely wasn't a David Villa but I think most football fans had a vague idea who he was. Then again you as those same drunks down at the Tollgate if they know who David Villa is an I doubt they would have any clue at all

I must say I thought Koren would have been under the cap. Like Duff.

With all the means City have at their disposal, the marquee is one area they can wave the cash. Would be crazy if they went for a cheapie player like Koren. Yes players need to have the right attitude about playing in Australia, but I would have thought they'd be looking at a high profile marquee, not quite at Lampard level, but not far off it.

Then again people thought Duff was going to be marquee at first. Perhaps the incentive of a possible coaching gig in a youth academy upon retirement is an additional incentive for these types of players.

He'd be a quality addition but you'd think they'd be aiming higher for marquees.