The Melbourne City Thread

[Dixie Flatline]

Valon Berisha won't be back after the end of his loan deal, and City have also announced the departures of Young Socceroo Raphael Borges Rodrigues, back-up goalkeeper Matthew Sutton and fringe defender Kerrin Stokes. Berisha was on loan from Ligue 1 team Stade de Reims, who have changed managers and with a contract running through to the end of 2024, Berisha has an opportunity to impress his new boss during pre-season.

Borges Rodrigues played an important role for Patrick Kisnorbo off the bench in 2022, but was restricted to only two appearances as a sub under Vidosic, against Macarthur FC and Wellington Phoenix. He is now a free agent.

Sutton played three games as goalkeeper for City (and none this season) with Tom Glover firmly preferred as the first choice keeper. Sutton won the 2022-2023 Clubman of the Year award.

Kerrin Stokes played in eight games for City across three seasons, but again didn't play a game for City in 2023.

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keepup.com.au

 

[AJ_2000]

Good summary of the announcements

 

[AJ_2000]

Valon Berisha won't be back after the end of his loan deal, and City have also announced the departures of Young Socceroo Raphael Borges Rodrigues, back-up goalkeeper Matthew Sutton and fringe defender Kerrin Stokes. Berisha was on loan from Ligue 1 team Stade de Reims, who have changed managers and with a contract running through to the end of 2024, Berisha has an opportunity to impress his new boss during pre-

Borges Rodrigues played an important role for Patrick Kisnorbo off the bench in 2022, but was restricted to only two appearances as a sub under Vidosic, against Macarthur FC and Wellington Phoenix. He is now a free agent.

Sutton played three games as goalkeeper for City (and none this season) with Tom Glover firmly preferred as the first choice keeper. Sutton won the 2022-2023 Clubman of the Year award.

Kerrin Stokes played in eight games for City across three seasons, but again didn't play a game for City in 2023.

A-Leagues Alumni

Welcome to the new A-Leagues Alumni section, which will allow fans to continue reading about the best stories involving the products who have come through the A-Leagues and are now flying the flag on the global stage.

keepup.com.au

Eeeek. These are a surprise



Lost all our international quality now. Looks like a big reset ahead

 

[pantskyle]

Yep huge amount of changes now.

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Eeeek. These are a surprise



Lost all our international quality now. Looks like a big reset ahead

Holy moly, last one out turn off the lights. New era for sure but no reason to think we won't bring quality in to contend again.

So our outs now (in terms of regular senior players) are: Glover, van der Venne, Berisha, Lam, O'Neill, Jamieson and our backup keeper in Sutton.

Looks like we'll need a quality goalkeeper, at least three strong visa signings and a Socceroos-calibre signing to make up for the players going out.

 

[AJ_2000]

Hope they've got the scouting network ready to find some more gems. They would have been expecting to replace the 1 year deals/lol and and the end of contracts, but Lam and VDV have been quality and still had a year to go. They would have been key players next season but now more holes to fill.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Van der Venne citing "private family reasons" for his departure. Hope everything is okay.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

By my rule of thumb, the following players have departed or are set to depart the club in the past little while:

• Jordan Bos to Westerlo (reportedly 1.3 million Euro transfer fee, which is pretty good for the A-League)
• Aiden O'Neill to Standard Liege on a free transfer
• Tom Glover has been granted a release, presumably because he has interest from overseas
• Scott Jamieson has retired
• Matthew Sutton has been released
• Kerrin Stokes has been released
• Raphael Borges Rodrigues has been released
• Valon Berisha will return to Stade Reims on the expiry of his loan on 30 June 2023
• Richard van der Venne is leaving the club

Glover is going to be replaced by Jamie (not so) Young, so at least there's some dependability at the back.

I just can't shake the memory of the City A-League team going from champions to bottom of the ladder after all the stars and international players left (like Steph Catley, Ellie Carpenter, Claire Emslie, Aivi Luik, etc.) and Rado had nothing to work with when he was their manager.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Confirmation of O'Neill signing with Standard Liege:

Aiden O'Neill signs for Standard Liege

Subway Socceroos midfielder Aiden O'Neill has signed with Belgian Pro League side Standard Liege on a four-year cont

www.socceroos.com.au

 

[AJ_2000]

By my rule of thumb, the following players have departed or are set to depart the club in the past little while:

• Jordan Bos to Westerlo (reportedly 1.3 million Euro transfer fee, which is pretty good for the A-League)
• Aiden O'Neill to Standard Liege on a free transfer
• Tom Glover has been granted a release, presumably because he has interest from overseas
• Scott Jamieson has retired
• Matthew Sutton has been released
• Kerrin Stokes has been released
• Raphael Borges Rodrigues has been released
• Valon Berisha will return to Stade Reims on the expiry of his loan on 30 June 2023
• Richard van der Venne is leaving the club

Glover is going to be replaced by Jamie (not so) Young, so at least there's some dependability at the back.

I just can't shake the memory of the City A-League team going from champions to bottom of the ladder after all the stars and international players left (like Steph Catley, Ellie Carpenter, Claire Emslie, Aivi Luik, etc.) and Rado had nothing to work with when he was their manager.

Thomas Lam too

 

[ColinMochrie]

Next year going to be very different. I don't think City will ever truly collapse to bottom of the table. But I think the era of being safely on top is well and truly over for a few years at least.

I am sure we can find replacements for the international players. I am concerned about losing some of that young talent.

Am guessing Tilio a good chance to leave too. Heard some stuff about Florin Berenguer too

 

[AJ_2000]

Tolgay Arslan, a central midfielder (desperately needed that!) Played the last 3 seasons at Udinese in Serie A.

Quality

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Impressive CV. I wonder if he takes up a marquee spot (if that still exists).

 

[MC Extra Dollop]

Wowser, reasonable start to the rebuilding campaign!

 

[AJ_2000]

Tilio set to move to Celtic .

Lost some great talent this off season

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Seems like a transfer fee has been agreed between Celtic and City, it's now up to Tilio to agree to terms with Celtic. It is interesting that Celtic re-hired Brendan Rodgers to replace Ange, and he supposedly has a good record for developing young talent. Tilio isn't all that young (23, I think) and Celtic do have a couple of talented players who play in the same position as Tilio already on their books. Hopefully if he does go to Celtic, it doesn't end up an Arzani situation where Tilio finds it hard to get first team football (though Arzani suffered his knee injury that put him behind the eight ball).

 

[Hamingja]

Celtic is a bad move for Tilio

He walks in as the 6th choice winger behind Jota, Abada, Maeda, Haksabanovic & Forrest

Celtic don't have a proper reserves team so he will be stuck training only. Their "B" team plays in the Scottish 5th division which is rubbish quality to start with, basically like the Met police and university teams, and it is really only for youth players as there are tight registration requirements with regards to being named in the senior squad and then not being eligible for the lowland league so it is not like AFL/VFL where you can play between the two all year

 

[pantskyle]

He'll be back in a year.

 

[pantskyle]

Seems like a transfer fee has been agreed between Celtic and City, it's now up to Tilio to agree to terms with Celtic. It is interesting that Celtic re-hired Brendan Rodgers to replace Ange, and he supposedly has a good record for developing young talent. Tilio isn't all that young (23, I think) and Celtic do have a couple of talented players who play in the same position as Tilio already on their books. Hopefully if he does go to Celtic, it doesn't end up an Arzani situation where Tilio finds it hard to get first team football (though Arzani suffered his knee injury that put him behind the eight ball).

He is 21 but agree it's a bad move for him.

 

[Dixie Flatline]

 

[Dixie Flatline]

Line in a Daily Mail article about Tilio leaving for Celtic suggests that City is also signing Steven Ugarkovic in addition to Jamie Young and Tolgay Arslan. Ugarkovic is a free agent after leaving the Phoenix at the end of the season.

Stuff

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[AJ_2000]

Welcome home Aziz Behich. Filling the gap on the left from Jamo and Bos

https://www.news.com.au/sport/football/socceroos-star-aziz-behich-returns-to-aleague-to-join-melbourne-city/news-story/48a6dc8ab04c0326ff3367f9b9122719

 

[Elmer_Hauser]

Gutted. Absolutely gutted



One of the all time greats and most underrated champions in our history.

This hurts. A lot. Thansk for the memories Berger

 

[AJ_2000]

City's group at the champions league

 

[AJ_2000]

Tickets on sale for our Champions League games, cheapest Adult ticket is $40 .

Not sure who sets the prices but that feels like a joke, especially when you could get a $50 family ticket to the Saints Giants elimination final.