Entries Tagged 'Mehmet Durakovic' ↓

With José Luis López’ addition, Ernie Merrick’s off-season recruitment seems to have reached its end. But work on the Victory’s W-League and National Youth League teams is still well underway.

Melbourne has signed Matilda’s goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri, who becomes the first signing for the Victory’s inaugural W-League team. Barbieri was on Melbourne’s medical staff three years ago when the league kicked off.

Earlier this year, she made headlines when she signed with the Richmond Eagles and became the first Australian woman to play in a professional men’s football team.

The W-League doesn’t start until late October, so the club still has ample time to assemble a full squad.

Meanwhile, Mehmet Durakovic’s youth team is close to complete after the club signed seven players this week. The Victory has signed Mijo Marinovic, Robert Wynne, Antonio LaVerde, Aziz Behich, Matthew Foschini, Stephen Hatzikostas and Fabio DiLizia.

Harzikostas and DiLizia both come over from the Victorian Institute of Sport, while the remainder have been sourced from various Victorian Premier League sides. They are aged between 16 and 19.

Ernie Merrick is somewhere looking for players, but Gary Cole says the club’s “not at liberty” to discuss the coach’s whereabouts:

“He’s going to various places over the course of the next seven days to look at a few different players. We’re not going to discuss where he is, that just complicates things.”

Cole can retain his silence, but it seems likely that Merrick’s sojourn is to Central America – with a particular emphasis on Costa Rica (update: Costa Rican press confirms this). Both Windell Gabriel and José Luis López have been rumoured to be in negotiations with the Victory, with Carlos Hernández putting in a good word for his countrymen. Seven days should be more than enough for Merrick to check out some of the other talent pools around Central America. I’ve heard particularly good reports about Honduras, and Mexico seems like another place worth scouting out.

One thing Cole is willing to confirm is that the club only has one available visa spot “at the moment.” So if Merrick is indeed in the Americas looking for talent, what of the Ney Fabiano rumour? Or perhaps the club intends to bid farewell to one of its current crop of international players?

In other coaching news, former Socceroo Mehmet Durakovic has been made coach of the Victory’s inaugural Youth League team. As Assistant Coach will be Steve Mautone, the current goalkeeping coach and third ‘keeper for the ACL campaign, who will be Assistant Coach.