Yesterday saw Kosta Barbarouses announce that he will leave Melbourne Victory at season’s end to join his hometown club Wellington Phoenix for the 2016-17 campaign.
It is a move that had been hinted at for a while and finally came to fruition, providing an almighty gain for the Phoenix, but a massive loss for the Victory.
Barbarouses has been arguably Kevin Muscat’s best player for large parts of this season, with Melbourne having struggled to play the same brand of exciting, clinical and attacking football consistently that saw them win the last campaign.
His move back to Wellington signals the beginning of what may prove to be an interesting offseason for the Victory.
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Much was made at the start of this season of an ability to retain much of their championship winning squad. It appears that despite this, the team has been unable to replicate the form which saw them win the premier’s plate, championship and FFA Cup – the same ingredients have not produced the same result.
And so with Barbarouses leaving, it may be the beginning of a squad shake up at the Victory. The Kiwi’s departure is already the second loss Melbourne will need to contend with after Matthieu Delpierre signalled that 2015-16 will be his last year at the club, with the Frenchman likely to retire.
Both Barbarouses and Delpierre were a part of a larger group of Victory players whose contracts ended with the conclusion of this season.
While the Victory have secured the continued services of two of their most important players in Besart Berisha and Leigh Broxham – both of whom signed two-year extensions, which will keep them at the club until the end of the 2017-18 season – there are still a number of players whose futures need to be sorted.
High up on the list is Gui Finkler. The Brazilian has spent the past four seasons at the Victory and has time and time again proved to be an influential presence in the centre of the park, as well as providing plenty of assists and set piece goals.
But this season he has struggled, providing four goals and only three assists. To put this in context he provided more assists in 2012-13 (eight) even though he missed over half of the season after rupturing his ACL.
Throw in his omission from Kevin Muscat’s Asian Champions League squad and Finkler’s future at the club has some question marks hanging over it.
The club should make re-signing Nick Ansell a priority. He has been excellent beside Matthieu Delpierre and at only 22-years of age, he has the potential to be a mainstay in the heart of the Victory defence.
Other players coming out of contract at the end of the season include Jesse Makarounas and Giancarlo Gallifuoco. Both have seen limited game time, Gallifuoco less than Makarounas and for this reason it would not be surprising if the club did not extend his contract beyond this one season. Makarounas provides more of a conundrum. He has been at the club since midway through 2012-13 season, but has not seen any sort of extended run in the starting XI. At only 21-years of age though, he could be utilised as a long term feature in this Victory team.
In somewhat similar positions to the above two in terms of age are Jason Geria, Dylan Murnane and Connor Pain. All of their contracts expire over the offseason or early on in the 2016-17 season. Geria has been the first choice right-back for most of this season, when he has not been away on Olyroos duty, and he is should be a high priority on the club’s re-signing list.
Murnane has proven to be a valuable back up fullback and deserves to have more game time, while Pain has shown bursts of his talent in his four seasons at the club, hopefully consistent game time can lead to consistently good displays.
Perhaps the most divisive figure on Victory’s off contract list is club talisman Archie Thompson. The hitman is synonymous with Melbourne Victory, it is his name that gets the loudest cheers on game day and his chant which gets the whole stadium moving as one.
It is safe to assume that if he were to be offered another contract it would again only be for a year. And with the loyalty player allowance, which lets teams pay players that have been at the club for 5-10 years outside of the salary cap, Thompson’s presence would not have any impact on the restraints placed on the squad by the cap.
The 37-year-old has not had nearly as much time on the pitch as previous seasons, making 11 apperances, starting twice and scoring a lone goal. Can he still provide for the Victory on the pitch?
Regardless, this offseason looms as one of major change at the Victory as they go about replacing some massive losses in pursuit of more silverware.
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