Football Season Guide

Adelaide United

In


Craig Goodwin (att), free transfer. Julian Kwaaitaal (mid), loan expired. Joshua Smits (gk), free transfer. Anselmo de Moraes (mid), free transfer. Juan Muñiz Gallego (mid), free transfer. Jake Najdovski (mid), transfer from Western United.

Out


Isaias (sp) (mid), retired. Javi Lopez (sp) (def), retired. Joshua Cavallo (sp) (def), contract expired. Ryan Tunnicliffe (sp) (mid), contract expired. Jordan Elsey (sp) (def), contract expired. Oscar Page (gk), transfer to Brisbane Roar. James Delianov (r) (gk), contract expired. Zach Clough (k) (mid), transfer. Stefan Mauk (k) (mid), loan to CAHN FC. Archie Goodwin (r) (att), transfer to Charlotte FC.

Had to endure another underwhelming campaign last season. Started amazingly, but fell away and never truly bounced back. Limped into the play-offs but were unsurprisingly dumped out of them as soon as they encountered a good team. The fans were displeased, but when you don't spend money this is what happens. Since then, boss Veart has left, and been replaced by Airton Andrioli, who followed the same career path as his predecessor - being promoted from the club's youth setup. This will be another challenging year for them when it comes to leadership, especially with Spanish veterans Javi Lopez and Isaias having now retired to take up coaching roles at the club. As always, they've lost more quality than they've gained. Their two best attacking midfielders, Clough and Mauk, both moved on. Wonderkid striker Archie Goodwin also left. They lost two good young goalkeepers in Page and Delianov too. These issues will be tricky to resolve. Much akin to shining the Bat-Signal in sky, they've summoned Craig Goodwin home to help them out of their latest prickly situation for what is at least the third time now, if not the fourth. He's a brilliant match-winner at this level so it's a top signing. Other than that though, they've brought in a journeyman goalkeeper to help youngsters Cox and Vartuli out, the latter of which made a number of errors last season. It's not yet clear who will start. Despite the traditionally late arrivals of experienced midfielders Gallego and de Moraes, they've not done enough pre-season. They're going to have to rely on more and more youngsters now. That may be their preference in general but now it's mandatory. Big questions remain about their mental strength, experience, goal-scoring, and chance creation (despite Craig Goodwin's return). It's hard to imagine the season going well for them.

Target


Club aim - 4-6 Realistic aim - 7-9