Football Season Guide

A-League

Australia

A-League

A-League

Melbourne City

In

Tolgay Arslan (mid), transfer from Udinese, Alessandro Lopane (att), transfer from Western Sydney Wanderers, Patrick Beach (gk), transfer from Central Coast Mariners, Zane Schreiber (mid), transfer from Sydney FC, Steven Ugarkovic (mid), transfer from Wellington Phoenix, Jamie Young (gk), transfer from Western United, Samuel Souprayen (def), transfer from Botev Plovdiv, Terry Antonis (mid), transfer from Western Sydney Wanderers, Marin Jakolis (att), loan from Angers SCO, Aziz Behich (def), transfer from Dundee United, Hamza Sakhi (att), loan from AJ Auxerre, Leo Natel (att), loan from Corinthians.

Out

Jordan Bos (def) (k), transfer to Westerlo, Aiden O’Neill (mid) (k), transfer to Standard de Liege, Tom Glover (gk) (r), mutual termination, Scott Jamieson (def) (sp), retired, Kerrim Stokes (def) (sp), mutual termination, Raphael Borges (att) (sp), mutual termination, Matthew Sutton (gk) (sp), mutual termination), Thomas Lam (def) (r), mutual termination, Valon Berisha (mid) (r), loan expired, Marco Tilio (att) (r), transfer to Celtic, Florin Berenguer-Bohrer (mid) (sp), transfer to Brisbane Roar, Luke Oresti (mid) (sp), transfer to Central Coast Mariners.

Were shockingly defeated 6-1 on their own patch when hosting Central Coast Mariners in the Grand Final last season. Will be gunning for the title again this season because they have more quality than most, and more capacity to invest money than the others do because of their affiliation with The City Group. Lost lots of key players pre-season so may endure a slow start - Lam, Berisha, Tilio, Glover, O’Neill, Bos, and even the likes of Berenguer-Bohrer and Jamieson will be missed to some extent. Signing Arslan, Ugarkovic, Young, Souprayen, Antonis, Jakolis, Behich, Sakhi, and Natel makes all of their pre-season departures somewhat redundant though, assuming that they adapt quickly. One slight issue they’ve encountered in the Asian Champions League is their lack of a natural right-sider, which is where Lopane has been filling in. This is because Nabbout has suffered a season-ending injury. Leckie is close to returning following his injury whilst on international duty so it’s not a cause for concern, although it’s noteworthy that he’s becoming more and more injury-prone as the years roll by. MacLaren is still the top dog at the club; the most lethal predator in the division. Should have some excellent support again this season. Defence looks solid and experienced, as does their midfield. Getting Natel fit has to be their main focus though because without doing so, they do lack a certain element of unpredictability in the final third now that Tilio has left. Should improve significantly at the back now Young is in for erratic Glover; he’s very experienced, and surprisingly agile for his age. No obvious weaknesses in this squad so they should be competing for the title along with Western United and Western Sydney Wanderers, assuming they juggle their continental commitments appropriately.

Target

Aiming to finish - 1-3 Likely to finish - 1-3