Welcome to A-Leagues Life, where KEEPUP brings you all the latest news and goings on at your club. This is how the week is shaping up across the A-Leagues and beyond.
VISIT KEEPUP’S WOMEN’S WORLD CUP HUB!
‘We need some big signings’
Brisbane Roar head coach Ross Aloisi acknowledged the club must make key signings heading into the 2023-24 Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Aloisi – who recently sat down to speak to KEEPUP – is the new boss at the helm after the former Yokohama F.Marinos assistant returned to Brisbane to permanently replace Warren Moon.
Brisbane have gone two consecutive seasons without finals football and are desperate to rediscover themselves, with the ex-Adelaide United captain asked about the Roar’s transfer plans.
INS AND OUTS: Isuzu UTE A-League 2023-24 Transfer Centre
“We have to,” Aloisi said when asked if Roar fans could expect big signings in the near future.
“If we want to be successful, we need some big signings. We have to work within our budget, that’s what it is.
“But we believe we can get those key players in.”
It has been an off-season of changes, beyond Aloisi’s appointment in Brisbane.
Former Australian prodigy Kaz Patafta is the Roar’s new chairman and CEO following Chris Fong’s return to Jakarta at the request of The Bakrie Group.
Once regarded as “the most technically gifted player I’ve coached” according to Australian legend Ange Postecoglou, Patafta emerged at Portuguese giants Benfica and the 34-year-old is joined by another ex-A-Leagues player – Zac Anderson, who takes on the role of chief operations officer.
“Brisbane Roar is a beast of a club … our intention is to take the Roar right back where it belongs,” Patafta said recently.
On the hunt for a striker, Anderson said the budget was enough “to get the right player”.
He cited the three-time champions’ glory years powered by the unheralded Thomas Broich and Besart Berisha as evidence the Roar did not need to chase household names.
“It’s just strategic recruitment,” he said while promising fans the side will play an entertaining style under new coach Ross Aloisi.
“These rough diamonds, (at) the right age and price tag, are out there. What’s been missing is that everyone’s not really had a clear direction.
“Everyone’s been working really hard, but not really towards anything.”
A World Cup and Champions League winner visits the Sky Blues
There was a special guest at Sydney FC training: Former Germany, Real Madrid and Juventus midfielder Sami Khedira.
The 36-year-old, who won the FIFA Men’s World Cup with Germany in 2014 having also tasted UEFA Champions League success at Real Madrid, touched down in Sydney to visit the Sky Blues’ new facility.
Having retired in 2021, Khedira was pictured with fellow German Alexander Baumjohann, who is the A-League Men club’s head of player management.
Baumjohann – a former midfielder for Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC having previously played for the likes of Schalke, Borussia Monchengladbach and Bayern Munich – crossed paths with Khedira in the Bundesliga.
Wanderers drop new kits
Nothing says a new season is upon us more than new kits, and Western Sydney Wanderers have launched theirs.
No longer with Kappa, the Wanderers – who fell to Sydney in the A-League Men Elimination Final last season, while the Liberty A-League side missed out on finals football – have a new supplier in the form of German giant Adidas.
On Friday night, Western Sydney dropped their home and away kits for 2023-24.
