Melbourne Victory star Kostas Barbarouses, 29, looks to be packing his bags and headed to the Emerald City to join Victory’s arch rival and current A-League champions Sydney FC.
Barbarouses is now a free agent after his contract with Melbourne Victory expired just last week on 31 May. He is reportedly about to finalise a three-year deal with the Sky Blues.
Barbarouses was Victory’s leading goal scorer in the just completed A-League season, netting 14 goals in a campaign where he was often deployed as a more orthodox striker as opposed to playing on the win in his more customary role.
Sydney FC had been in talks with Wellington Phoenix’s Golden Boot winner and Johnny Warren medallist Roy Krishna but the parties were unable to reach agreement. It’s believed the Sky Blues are after a fast paced strike partner for their English striker Adam Le Fondre, especially with the retirement of skipper Alex Brosque and the expected departure of Iranian International striker Reza Ghoochannejhad, following the completion of his loan from Cypriot club APOEL.
Sydney expects to be able to register Barbarouses as a player within their salary cap and not as a marquee player. Barbarouses, whose partner and he are expecting a child in September, indicated on the eve of the recent A-League finals series, that he was ready for a second attempt to play football in Europe. More recently, he has reportedly been looking for a move to Asia perhaps in the J-League or the K-League, in order to secure his future.
It’s believed that the length of the Sydney offer made it a more attractive proposition to what Melbourne Victory was prepared to offer.