Diles lays out transfer targets as Victory begin preseason
When it comes to depth heading into the new season, Melbourne Victory coach Arthur Diles is happy to focus on quality over quantity. But he's still keen to make a few important additions.
Melbourne Victory will seek to add a starting-calibre midfielder and centreback before the start of the A-League Men season, with coach Arthur Diles comfortable with focusing on quality over quantity heading into the new campaign.
After falling to a second successive grand final defeat last season, Victory will commence preparing to go one better in 2025-26 with a friendly against Wrexham on Friday evening, the first fixture of a three-game tour of Australia and New Zealand that the newly-promoted global sensations will play Down Under.
Having only returned to training last week, it’s a rather unusual way to return to action for the four-time champions, who Diles confirmed will be without Nishan Velupillay, Reno Piscopo, Franco Lino, and Lachlan Jackson for the fixture as they look to get up to speed.
Victory has returned a large contingent of the core of players that reached last season’s decider, but the contingent that has left is notable for its quality, highlighted by three recent Socceroos in Daniel Arzani (Ferencváros), Ryan Teague (K.V. Mechelen), and Kasey Bos (Mainz 05).
Coming the other way have been left-back Lino, central midfielder Louis D'Arrigo, and attacker Keegan Jelacic but, especially with defender Brendan Hamill likely to miss most of the season as he recovers from an ACL rupture, Diles has told JDL Media that there are a few holes that remain to be filled.
JDL Media is committed to keeping its reporting on Australian football away from paywalls.
If you’re in a position to, please consider supporting this coverage at Ko-Fi.
“We want quality,” said Diles. “Ideally, someone who is a great age profile, absolutely. But then again, if we don't find that [that won’t stop them signing someone]. And if there's a foreigner, we've still got a foreign spot available; we'll use that if we need to.
“From a midfield point of view, we've lost [Fabian] Monge and Teague, so we replaced them with Louis. But we need another one. And someone who's a starting midfielder – not just a squady. That's the process we're at at the moment, looking for that. And a centre-back. That's another couple of spots, at least, that we need to fill.
“At the moment, we're pretty thin. We've still got a majority of our squad from last year. Franco Lino comes in and replaces Kasey Bos. Adama [Traore] is still there, obviously, Adama and Lino. So one experienced, one, one younger.
“Louis replaces Teaguey. We still need a Monge replacement. BJ [Hamill], he's out injured, so we need to find a centre-back, because it only leaves us with Lachy [Lachlan Jackson] and Roddy [Roderick Miranda]. The right backs were covered with [Josh] Rawlins and [Josh] Inserra. Up top, we're good. We've got Jing [Reec], we've got [Nikos] Vergos, we've got Reno [Piscopo], we've got Nish [Velupillay], we've got Santos, we've got Jelacic, Zizou [Zinedene Machach], and [Luka] Kolic.
“And now the young boys will step up from the NPL side. It won't be a deep squad. Last year was pretty shallow, to be fair; we're just very fortunate we didn't have a lot of injuries.
“In terms of the balance, we're okay at the moment. We're not deep, but we're okay. We're okay. One other midfielder and centre-back, and we'll be fine.”
While the departures of Arzani and Teague were largely considered a fait accompli heading into the offseason, Bos’ rapid rise earning him a move to the Bundesliga perhaps caught a few off guard. However, with the initial flurry of transfer activity passed, the Victory boss was hopeful there would be no further raids on his dressing room.
“The only one that we might have anticipated, which nothing's eventuated, was Nish,” said Diles. “Nothing's coming there. Whether that comes later, I hope not, because then you have to be reactive closer to the season. If that has to happen, I would prefer it to have happened already or very soon.
“But at this stage, it doesn't look like there's anything there. Which is pretty surprising.”
Another addition that Victory will need to make before the season commences will be to its goalkeeping union, following the announcement on Thursday that club legend and Socceroo Mitch Langerak was set to retire and move into a coaching role in the academy.
“Thank you Football! To the game that has given me almost everything in my life – thank you!” Langerak wrote on his Instagram. “After 18 professional years of playing, it’s time for me to say goodbye to the game I love. I’ve given absolutely everything I have, sacrificed so much, and pushed my body to its limits to achieve what I have and reach where I am today.
JDL Media is committed to keeping its reporting on Australian football away from paywalls.
If you’re in a position to, please consider supporting this coverage at Ko-Fi.
“After more than 400 professional matches, I can truthfully say I prepared for and played every single one like it was my last – and that’s something I’m extremely proud of.
“I’ve had the privilege of playing in the Champions League and hearing that iconic anthem. I played in the Bundesliga for the greatest club in Germany, Borussia Dortmund, and won trophies there. I experienced the low of relegation with Stuttgart and the high of promotion a year later. I played 286 matches and captained Nagoya Grampus during the most enjoyable and incredible period of my football career. I played my first and last matches for the biggest and best club in Australia, Melbourne Victory. And I’ll never forget the honour of living a childhood dream: playing for the Socceroos.”
After he triggered an automatic extension clause in his contract last season, Langerak’s retirement leaves Jack Duncan as the undisputed number one heading into the campaign but, behind him, the only other senior contracted keeper is 18-year-old Daniel Graskoski. 18-year-old Yonathan Sultan has also started for Victory’s NPLM side in 2025 but is currently injured.
“He let me know a while ago. He was pretty open and honest, which I was very grateful for, that it was on his mind,” said Duncan.
“When he made his decision, he let me know, and I thank you for that and for supporting me in this new season. Throughout last year, I had the number one mindset, but I guess now that he's made the decision to move away, it does change things.”
“I think someone like Mitch, who came back here knowing that he wanted to contribute, the moment that he felt that he couldn’t contribute at the level that he expects, I respect that,” added Diles.
“Many people before him, and I’m sure many people after him, will continue to just play and pick up a wage, thinking that it’s okay to drop their level, and it’s okay because I’m back in the A League.
“He came back, he saw the level of the A-League is very high, different to when he left. He saw that he maybe he couldn’t compete at the level that he wanted to.
“And I respect the fact that he said, ‘ok, I’ll walk on my terms and I’m ready to retire’.
“It’s not an easy decision to make for any footballer, and the fact that he’s been able to make that tells you that he’s in the right headspace, and he’s done, ultimately, what’s right for himself and obviously what’s right for the club.
“That shows how much his club means to Mitch by making that decision and not extending one extra year, knowing that he couldn’t fulfil his commitment and his end of the agreement.”