2016/17 Transfer Speculation

Must have hammered the FM16 database

The A-League is a little far away though, we'll probs sign someone just down the road, following in the footsteps of our humble and ever-trusting FFA overlords.

I raise you a Bill Robertson.

Brendan Hammill has been approached by the Phoenix according to the secret agent on Facebook, also says we were turned down by Rhys Williams and Alex Wilkinson. 

Gotta catch 'em all!

Rostyn Griffiths? Surely we have more cap space than the Glory

Surely John Key has negotiated for NZ to be considered part of Europe while he's been over there.

That's unnecessary, we only need one or two.

De Vries wide right in the front three for me - better option than Fenton imo

That is the problem Hn, At the Phoenix we don't do corners well.

You suggesting we should Pikachu's?

But better than Kosta or Krishna?

Any reason given why they said no?

I'm guessing it is because they were offered contracts in Aussie and we are in NZ. I'd like to think that any returning NZ internationals, given a similar choice in contracts between the Nix and any Aussies clubs, would choose the Nix just because it is 'home'.

I'll give you 3 examples purely for discussion point - Smeltz, Durante and McGlinchy. Without knowing much about their background, what do you propose they would be doing when their careers end as an active player? In this part of the world, my guess is that it would be away from football. Now you name me a gig they could do that would net them $200-300k per year?

$$ is what it is all about. Some are lucky and make it as football pundits but if you look around, there are not many of those jobs and the ones that are there, are occupied.

Note i said similar contracts.

Is there a link for that page? Been trying to find it

That's fair. For the same reason we are not likely to see Marco Rojas in home colours anytime soon (except as an AW)

All White home games in Wellington? 

This is NZF we are talking about

Fixed.

.... I'll raise you ....

Wild speculation time!

http://www.transfermarkt.com/giliano-wijnaldum/pro...

Georginio's little brother

And then if Georginio's a flop, just ship him down to NZ as well. Too easy.

From Stuff:

"For his own side, Merrick said he had narrowed his chase for an import centre back to replace Ben Sigmund to two players.

"I'm pretty confident of getting a European player over the line and it's not a player in his 30s, it's someone in his 20s who is coming here for the right reasons and has a good CV behind him and the right kind of character that we're looking for.""

Would be nice if he could drop a few more clues. That's when the speculation gets proper fun.

He also said scrap the salery cap, did they already made a deal with a wealthy Chinese sponsor?

Umm..Huawei?

I think if you read it he said it's pointless so they may as well chop it.  They have made so many loopholes that all it does is add administrative overhead.

Personally i think still having one is a good idea but they need to make it an actual salary cap not this current mess.

I think it's pointless - the whole reasoning behind the salary cap is to keep the league even and to prevent clubs from spending beyond their means. However - the haves and have nots (Melbourne/Syd/Adelaide/Brisbane v rest of comp) have already surfaced and clubs are still getting bailed out by the FFA every year.

'The Secret Agent' gossip column has linked us with Paartalu today. Not sure we really need someone that will come back for 6 months before sulking his way into another overseas transfer.

With a few exceptions, not that the FFA would notice.

FFA: Bailing out broken clubs and trying to blow up fixed ones since 2004-ish.

He's not a Centre back, a right back or a striker so unless he's cheap I doubt he'd be a priority for us.

Exciting to hear from Ernie that the players we are looking at are in their 20s (even if they end up being 29.5 or something)

Really shows that the A-League (for the most part) is being seen as a viable option for overseas players and 'worthy' of their talents.

Good stuff, Ernie!

Jeonbuk's Wikipedia page has another Brazilian joining their team, and I believe they are only allowed 4 foreign signings at a time?

At the very least he could be moving on, or another VISA player could become a Korean citizen...