Right now in midfield we have:
DM: Riera, Muscat, Lia
CM: Hicks (can't defend well enough to be DM at A-league), RIdenton
Wingers: Cunningham, Krishna, Boyd
CAM: Rufer
Who knows: Gorrin
We clearly lack CM/CAM. Tim Payne is apparently a CAM. Right now Gorrin is going to have to play in that attacking midfield role because the other options just aren't good enough. However, I would rather put Gorrin at DM because our defence needs strengthening and Muscat/Lia aren't up to it IMO. If we sign McGlinchey then things look a bit different. We definitely need to sign some more players in Payne's position.
Also how many roster spots do we have left? I know Merrick has said by omission that he won't sign any more defenders. We also know that we want to sign a quality striker. So where else are we going to use the rest of our roster sports? Are we going to just sign strikers and goalkeepers because we can't sign midfielders and defenders?
We know Ernie is looking for an attacking midfielder and is likely to be spending a bit on him. We could do with a genuine backup as well (maybe Gorrin as backup?) but have you ever seen Payne play as an attacking mid? I haven't but he doesn't really look like that sort of player to me. Ernie also said he would probably be after another defender. It wouldn't hurt to give him a trial (when the players are actually back, now isn't the time) but I feel people are generally overreacting to this, and also doing it off an indirect quote from a journalist.
I would be more interested in James than Payne, although if that is related to off-field issues we are not aware of I can understand not going for him either.