So has Gary van Egmond’s decision to keep Patafta out of the squad vindicated Ernie Merrick’s decisions regarding Patafta last year?

Here’s some news items you may have missed during the week:

• Kaz Patafta: Released by Benfica, under-utilised by the Melbourne Victory, young Kaz runs to the wide open arms of Gary Van Egmond.
• Mark Byrnes: The former Victory player has signed a short-term deal with Apia Leichardt in the NSW Premier League. He’s hoping to make his way back into the A-League.
• A-League expansion: There are plenty of people jostling for a piece of the pie, with no less than three Melbourne teams hoping to become the second Melbourne club. Meanwhile, billionaire Clive Palmer has thwarted the Gold Coast Galaxy franchise, wooing the FFA with his own – more lucrative – club, Gold Coast United, which he hopes will become the new Bling FC.
• Carlos Hernández: The injury he picked up against Juventus has forced him to forego a spot in the Costa Rican World Cup qualifying squad.

For all the latest news, you can follow two other feeds I’m updating simultaneously throughout the week. If you’re on Twitter, follow my profile. Otherwise, this page is updating regularly and has an RSS feed.

Joe Keenan is on a three-day trial with the Newcastle Jets, according to The Herald:

The 25-year-old has a season to run on a two-year deal in the Victorian capital, but coach Ernie Merrick has opened the way for him to move on.

Keenan’s departure will pave the way for Melbourne to sign another foreign player, likely to be Costa Rican defender José Luis López.

Antun Kovacic is also on trial with the Jets. Some Victory fans may remember the Richmond defender for his brief addition to the squad in season 1 as an injury replacement.

Newcastle have also been touted as a possible destination for Kaz Patafta, who has severed ties with Benfica FC.

And just to round things off, another former Victory player has been talking with Jets coach Gary Van Egmond. Ljubo Milicevic, it appears, has not been able to find a new club since he parted ways with the Victory in February.

Hey Gary, you want to check out Leandro Love as well?

When he first signed with the Melbourne Victory, he was hailed as the “next Harry Kewell” by one reader. But before last Saturday, Patafta had only 200 minutes of in-season game time to prove himself.

Kaz’s main competition for the attacking midfield role was, of course, Carlos Hernández. Despite many early complaints about the Costa Rican, Patafta has never been able to displace Hernández from the starting line-up. And with Leigh Broxham, Grant Brebner and Kevin Muscat absorbing the rest of the midfield spots for the majority of the season, there was simply no room for Kaz in Ernie Merrick’s calculations.

Until Saturday. A few things were key to bringing about Kaz’s first start of the season: Kevin Muscat’s shift into a central defensive capacity; Danny Allsopp’s injury; and Merrick’s overdue decision to bench Grant Brebner. It all paved the way for Patafta to start alongside Hernández, in a formation that was probably Melbourne’s best of the season.

Patafta certainly did enough to impress 22,000 fans on Saturday night, playing with creativity, vision and speed. Many of those fans boo-ed in the 60th minute when Merrick replaced Patafta with Leandro Love. In fairness, Patafta had done his most impressive work in the first half. Merrick’s decision to take him off, while unpopular, may have been the right move. Melbourne did, after all, score both its goals after Kaz went off. Fresh legs may have helped.

Whether it was necessary to replace him or not, most fans will agree that Kaz did enough in 60 minutes to warrant his inclusion in this Sunday’s starting line-up.

And yet, there’s a new contendor for the attacking midfield position: Nick Ward. Like Patafta, Ward has a bright, promising future. Currently an Olyroo, the latest talk is that new Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek will be at the game on Sunday night, assessing potential talent for the Socceroos squad. Ward may be dead-set on returning to Europe as soon as possible, but he has a very good reason to impress for the Victory this weekend.

With Ward pressing for a spot in the line-up, will Patafta once again be dropped to the bench? Or did his performance on Saturday night secure him another start?

Kaz Patafta will be stepping  into his place, partnering Danny Allsopp up the front. It’s a game Melbourne has to win (and preferably with a few goals) if it wants to have a crack at winning the Pre-Season Cup.

Then again, that doesn’t seem to be a huge priority. Adrian Caceres made it clear that the focus lies elsewhere:

We’re going to focus on the first game of the season because that is where it counts.

A-League News

By the way, for those of you after live coverage of the match against Perth, it’s not looking good. The Melbourne Victory site has said the game won’t be covered there. If anyone has tips on how to keep track of the game, please leave a comment.

In 2004, he received a scholarship to study with the Australian Institute of Sport; in 2005, he led the Joeys during the World Championships for under-17s; in 2006, he joined Benfica’s B team, trained with the Socceroos before the World Cup, and eventually played his first game for Benfica’s 1st team in August; and now, he’s joined the Melbourne Victory on a 1-year loan.

He’s a left-footed midfielder with an attacking mindset, the kind of player we can expect to push play forward. Steve O’Connor of the AIS says:

“…a good dribbler, he sees things, and his first touch is outstanding.”

That said, it’s hard to say whether we he’ll be a regular in Melbourne’s starting lineup. The Victory’s midfield is undoubtedly its strongest point and it’s hard to see solid players like Brebner and Muscat losing their place in the central spots. On the wings, Merrick has a bevy of options to choose from, meaning that Kaz is up against players like Caceres, Broxham and Berger. And even though his move to Melbourne was accompanied by a lot of excitement, that means nothing when it comes to selection time.

Form is going to be paramount for midfielders trying to edge their way into the starting 11, but Patafta seems to be well-aware of this:

“‘I just want the opportunity to play if I deserve to,’ said Canberra-born Patafta. ‘I’ll be working hard to get as much game time as possible.’”

From The Age.

More about Kaz Patafta:

• Patafta set to fight for Victory FC spot, July 2, 2007, The Age
• Victory lucky with Kaz, June 20, 2007, The Daily Telegraph
• Kaz on Wikipedia
• Related posts from MVFCBlog:
  • How Merrick met Patafta, and his girlfriend
  • More rumours. Will Kaz Patafta be next?

Not much in the way of YouTube action for Kaz Patafta, but there was this feature from the World Game on him, dating back to sometime last year.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tE-nLl2pLg[/youtube]

“I went and got my ticket and sat down at the game, and I sat next to this very attractive young girl and her parents,” Merrick told AAP.

“We got chatting and this young girl – it turns out she’s Kaz’s girlfriend and now his agent.

“We started talking about Kaz and how he was looking for a change and a loan for a year.

“His club (Benfica) wanted to loan him to another Portuguese club but she said he’d much prefer to come to Australia and Melbourne Victory was a good team.

“That’s where it went from.”

Daily Telegraph

Merrick, you sly coach! With two players still left to sign before the Victory squad is a complete 21, whose girlfriend/agent will Ernie be talking to next? I hear Aloisi isn’t sold on Sydney yet…

This year’s squad is becoming stronger by the day.

It is important to note that, similarly to the Carlos Hernandez rumours from last week, nothing has been confirmed by the Melbourne Victory camp. Unfortunately it also seems to be becoming a habit for the Melbourne Victory to rely on overseas press to break these stories.

18 year-old Patafta has been on the Benfica squad since January last year, after leading the “Joeys” during the 2005 World Championships in Peru. He has played regularly in their youth team and appeared a few times in Benfica’s 1st team, all in friendly matches. It is certainly conceivable, considering he isn’t a 1st team player, that Benfica would want to loan him to another club. As much was suggested in a recent interview with him on the SBS’s The World Game;

<narrator> “And what might happen is a move to another European club, where the prospect of regular 1st team opportunities seem more likely”

<Patafta> “It’s really hard to tell, you never know. Sometimes when you expect one thing, the other thing happens. I think the main thing for me at the moment is I’m still young and it’s just all about improving my football and where I get my opportunities to play at a senior level and keep improving.”

Here’s hoping he gets the chance to improve his football at the Victory, where he undoubtedly will become an important part of a growingly impressive squad.

June 19 update: The Age has confirmed this morning that Melbourne Victory is in negotiations with Patafta and is aiming to sign him in the next 48 hours. Source: Victory aiming to sign junior star

June  19 update 2: Patafta has himself now confirmed he is considering a deal to play at Melbourne Victory. Source: Patafta in line for Victory