Mickael Tavares joins Faty at Central Coast Mariners

Mickael Tavares joins Faty at Central Coast Mariners

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Central Coast Mariners have announced midfielder Mickael Tavares will join the Gosford club after signing a one-year deal for the 2016-17 season.

Tavares was released by Sydney FC earlier on Monday after 34 games with the Sky Blues and joins cousin Jaques Faty as the first pieces of a rebuild at Central Coast Stadium.

Indeed, 33-year-old Tavares says Faty played a key role in luring him to the Mariners.

“It’s a great feeling and I am very happy to be a part of this club,” Tavares said.

“My cousin (Faty) helped me make my decision, it’s obviously better to be with someone you grew up with.

“Everyone that I’ve spoken to has had nothing but positive things to say about the club and I have an ambition to be successful with this club.

“We really want success with the Mariners and I am sure we will have a great season, first we will aim for the top six then we will see.

“I am also here to help the young ones, the Mariners have some young players with good quality who need more experience so me and Jacques will try and bring this to the team and help the youngsters develop.”

In possession of the youngest squad in the A-League, the Mariners lacked experienced heads for much of the season and it is that quality that boss Tony Walmsley is so pleased to have brought in.

“Mickael has played in a lot of good leagues around Europe,” Walmsley said.

“When we looked at adding quality in our midfield we were looking for two things: physical attributes and the ability to keep the ball for longer periods.

“It’s clear that he is a very strong willed midfielder who can not only break up opponents attacks but in possession he’s very good at moving the ball from one end of the pitch to the other.

“Of course they both know each other well, they have an existing relationship. After the season that we’ve had we want to build quickly a cohesive unit and this makes sure the pre-season accelerates quicker than it normally would, so I’m excited.

“Speaking to Mickael he’s confident that he can add values in the areas that we need value added.”

Central Coast have already released Dan Heffernan, Francesco Stella and Tomislav Uskok prior to signing the Senegalese duo.

They will have the unenviable task of providing a foundation for rebuilding a team which secured a record-low 13 points last campaign.

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