A-League club Melbourne Victory has been keen on signing Greek talent ahead of the new season.
Coach Ange Postecoglou has already signed New Zealand national and Greek football star Kosta Barbarouses for a three-year deal, and has accepted Greek Australian player Andrea Govas in on their training.
Melbourne Victory mentioned to Neos Kosmos that Govas’ inclusion in training was not an official trial and rather was a chance for Govas to stay fit during pre-season. The 24-year-old revealed to Neos Kosmos he decided to stay in Melbourne for a little longer with his family and put a pause on his return to newly promoted SuperLeague club Kalloni FC.
New recruit, striker Kosta Barbarouses, has been under Postecoglou’s tutelage before when he played for Brisbane Roar in 2010-2011. During that time, he was the leading scorer for the Premiership/Championship double-winning Roar.
More recently, Barbarouses was playing for Greek giant Panathinaikos last year and has played for Russian Premier League club Alania Vladikavkaz in 2011.
While rumours circled around the signing of Giorgios Seitaridis last week, rumours they’ve remained. Melbourne Victory has denied even talking to Seitaridis’ people, and says reports that they were considering the Panathinaikos player to take up the marquee position were untrue.
In fact, Melbourne Victory said the marquee selection process has stagnated after potential players, Giorgios Karagounis and Fabrizio Miccoli, declined to join.
But Victory isn’t afraid to lose its Greek players either. Last week, it decided to release Theo Markelis after the 21-year-old only made five substitute appearances in the last season.