Fabrizio Miccoli has spurned Melbourne Victory, choosing to join his boyhood club of Lecce in Italy’s third division. The former Palermo captain turned 34 in late June after scoring 81 goals over the past six seasons in Serie A. With Palermo relegated and without a contract, Miccoli was heavily linked with the Victory before agreeing to join Lecce for 2013/14.
Melbourne Victory miss out on Fabrizio Miccoli
Despite reports to the contrary over the past few days, the Italian attacker will not move to the A-League this offseason.
Tullio M. Puglia
After jettisoning international Marquee Player Marcos Flores ten days ago, the Victory had space available to recruit a well known European. After Giorgos Karagounis re-signed with Fulham, Miccoli became the main target of Ange Postecoglou and the Victory. While other A-League managers have been very busy reshaping rosters, Postecoglou has been fairly quiet in adding new pieces, though clearly Flores’ departure was a major move.
Now, with Postecoglou occupied for the next week as the A-League All-Star team coach, it is unlikely the Victory will have a new player announcement any time soon. Whether or not the club need start from scratch is unknown, but missing out on yet another high profile player, in a high profile way, is certain to damage the Victory’s chances at convincing players to move to the A-League this offseason.
The Victory host Liverpool in a friendly on July 24 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which would have been the perfect time for the club to debut its newest Marquee as the game is expected to draw 95,000 and will be broadcast across the country on Seven.
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