Gary Cole, on Thwaite’s signing:

“It’s very pleasing to be able to bring another Socceroo home, albeit for only a short time at this stage.”

“He’s big, quick and will do a great job for us in defence.”

Meanwhile, mystery still surrounds whether Costa Rican defensive midfielder José Luis López has signed with Melbourne. The Costa Rican press seems quite certain of the deal, but the club hasn’t made an announcement yet.

Nathan Burns has re-signed with Adelaide United; and indications are that Sasa Ognenovski will be heading over there too. The Queensland Roar defender already seems to be burning bridges with his current club: last week, he got in a fight with Roar goalkeeper Griffin McMaster. The conflict appears to have been about McMaster’s haircut…

Meanwhile, an article in The Age last week was talking up the possibilities of Melbourne signing Perth Glory’s Jamie Coyne. Earlier this week, that possibility was squashed, as Coyne re-signed with Perth.

Michael Thwaite has also just signed a deal with Norwegian team Brann Bergen (incidentally, Nathan Burns is over at Brann Bergen for a trial at the moment). The 24-year old Socceroo had been rumoured to be negotiating with Melbourne.

So, that leaves us with… Stuart Musialik. The Newcastle Jets are hoping he’ll stay at the club, and with the way the Jets keep on winning these days, I wouldn’t put it past them.

Where are these new recruits going to come from?

With Steven Pace joining Daniel Piorkowski and Ljubo Milicevic on the list of injured defenders – Pace has a broken leg – Melbourne’s defensive options are a huge worry. With Nathan Elasi bolstering our striking options, finding a few new defenders is taking top priority for Ernie Merrick and Gary Cole.