At a time when many have urged the expansion of the A-League to open up more career opportunities for talented young Australian footballers, one young forward has received a great boost in his bid to make it as a professional in the A-League.

Melbourne Victory announced earlier this week the signing earlier this week of 17 year old Christian Theoharous as a scholarship player, which means he’ll not only train as part of the senior squad but will be eligible to play for the senior team if selected.

Theoharous has been on Victory coach Kevin Muscat’s radar for a couple of seasons now having played for Victory’s NPL youth team. He even impressed the coach enough to earn selection last July for the Melbourne Victory team that played a touring Atletico Madrid side in a preseason friendly down at Geelong.

Speaking on the A-League website, Theoharous commented on what signing the scholarship meant for him, “It’s a great opportunity to play for the best club in Australia obviously. I’m grateful and thankful to the staff and especially Kevin Muscat for believing in me and giving me this opportunity.”

“There’s some of the best players in the league and they all encourage me and I’m developing really well… Hopefully we can finish the season strongly, train really hard, keep developing and obviously get a few more minutes under my belt.”

The announcement follows a recent contract extension to young winger Jai Ingham, and also weekend speculation surrounding the veteran Ben El Khalfalla’s future at the club.

Speculation is that he may have played his last game at the club.