Orlando Engelaar will join Melbourne Heart as a foreign Marquee Player. The 33-year-old central midfielder, who will be 34 later this month, moves to the A-League from PSV where he spent the past four years. Engelaar is also a veteran of NAC Breda and Twente of the Eredivisie, Racing Genk of the Belgian Pro League and Schalke 04 of the German Bundesliga.
Melbourne Heart sign Orlando Engelaar
Heart finally add a foreign Marquee Player after several attempts earlier in the offseason.
Jeff J Mitchell
The former Dutch international was a starter at Euro 2008 but has not been part of the national team since 2010. Engelaar rejoins former Twente teammate Rob Wielaert, who just made his pre-season debut with Heart on Wednesday. A free agent as of July 1, Engelaar does not require a transfer fee from Heart, so his Marquee status will be purely based in wages.
According manager John Aloisi, in a club press release:
”I am confident that Orlando will be one of the most accomplished midfielders that has to come to play in Australia. The club has worked hard for a number of seasons to attract a player who can dominate and control matches from midfield and we believe that we have found that player.
”You don’t pull the strings in the midfield for the Dutch national team unless you have some special qualities. We can’t wait for the season to get started and, with this signing, we believe that we have given football fans something to get really excited about.
“Meeting Orlando, and hearing his views on football and his motivations for coming to Australia, makes me very excited about the impact he will have on our club and the Hyundai A-League.”
The 6’5” midfielder will join Heart’s pre-season training late next week.
See More:
