Around the league special

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Article by e-Football's A League Correspondent Stivie Krstanoski

 

The A-League season kick off is getting closer and closer, so what are teams around the league doing to prepare? Time to go around the league and get some insight into what is happening.

 

The Western Sydney Wanderers have added fire power to their attack by signing former Sydney FC attacker, Brendon Santalab on a one-year deal. Santalab is well known to A-league fans for his sensational goals that he scored during his time at Sydney FC. My personal favourite is this one against Adelaide United (tune in at 1:12).

 

The reigning minor premiers will look to make an early impact on the league and by adding fire power to help Shinji Ono and co, they will surely do that.

 

Moving on to Santalab's former employers, Sydney FC. The Sky Blues got a massive boost with the commitment of A-League talisman Alessandro Del Peiro. The Italian legend has signed an extension with Sydney which has already had a positive impact on revenue with the club confirming a $1 million sponsorship extension for this season.

 

Some other good news for Sydney fans is that Terry Antonis wants to return to the club, after changing his mind about his move to Parma. Antonis has one eye on Rio as he looks to cancel the deal he signed with Parma, although at this point it is not 100% that is even possible. Sydney FC head coach Frank Farina had this to say to the Daily Telegraph about the current situation.

 

"That's still a bit of a curved one. He supposedly has a signed contract with Parma but he wants to stay now.

 

All of a sudden he tears a quad, he's a way off (being fit) and no-one from Parma has rung him.

 

The kid wants to stay, and I always said I thought he should. He was captain of the U-20s and going to Parma, the world was his oyster."

 

I have to agree with Farina on this one, and will be keeping a close eye on developments on the deal.

 

Continuing on with transfers, Newcastle Jets captain Ruben Zadkovich is the subject of interest from Millwall. However, the Newcastle Jets are determined to keep the Socceroo who has put in impressive displays in the recent East Asia Cup. Zadkovich will want to keep his good run of form going to make sure he stays in the Socceroos plans.

 

Zadkovich has asked the Jets to accommodate the offer, and allow him to speak with Steve Lomas and the directors of Millwall. It would be a big blow to lose another Socceroo international but with World Cup 2014 looming, we have to come to terms with these kinds of possibilities. Every single player will want to make sure they are on that plane to Rio, even if that means gambling with their careers by moving abroad.

 

It is getting to that stage that we are seeing crazy moves from Socceroo players that have raised a lot of questions. Brett Holman has infuriated a lot of fans and pundits with his move to the middle east. Robbie Slater in particular singled out the Former Aston Villa midfielder for his move to Dubai club, Al Nasr. Slater made his opinion public that Holman sold out and quit when times got rough. Harsh comments from the ex-Soccerooo - harsh, but fair.

 

Surely Holman could have waited at least one more season before making such a money driven move to the Middle East. The A-league would have benefited having a player like Holman to boost the quality and Socceroo presence in the league. I won't go much further into it, I understand that at the end of the day it's up to the player and his family to make these decisions. It is just upsetting to many fans, as this damages the Socceroos when we need our big players the most.

 

Holman isn't the only player I think should have come back to Australia and joined the A-league. Scott McDonald would have been an asset to any club had he decided to come home and revive his Socceroos career. Instead, the prolific goal scorer chose to join Millwall. The former Celtic and Middlesbrough man never got going for the National team, he has 26 caps with 0 goals in the green and gold. Funny to think that a player who scored 51 league goals in 88 appearances for Celtic is still waiting to score his first goal for the Socceroos.

I do hope Scott comes to the A-League sooner or later, as his league scoring form would light up our domestic league. For now, I wish him luck at Millwall - hopefully it leads to another crack at his Socceroos "duck".

 

As always I am constantly keeping you all updated via Twitter, make sure you're following me @StivieKay to keep in the loop with all things A-League.

Also, great news for all my followers and readers. I was luck enough to catch up with Mile Sterjovski for another exclusive interview and player profile to add to my series. So keep an eye out!

 

Until next time,

 

Stivie Krstanoski

e Football A-League

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