Window of opportunity

June 18 2014

Shepparton News

The mid-season Goulburn Valley Suns rebuild has begun.

Green Gully’s Ardian Vuniqi — who made his Suns debut in Sunday’s shock draw against South Melbourne — and Brian Vanega have signed for the Suns, with Simon Colosimo also set to join.

Colosimo’s transfer is subject to an international transfer certificate, with the former Melbourne Heart defender set to arrive at the Suns from Indian I-League club Dempo Sports Club.

Vuniqi struggled for game time at fellow National Premier Leagues Victoria strugglers Gully, but Suns coach Peter Zois said he had known about Vuniqi for some time and was impressed with his debut at left-back on Sunday after just two training sessions with the team.

Vanega, 22, has played nine games for Green Gully this season.

Going the other way, Stipo Andrijasevic is set to sign for Melbourne Knights, while Fahad Alghazaly has left the club for local Regional Premier League outfit Shepparton United.

The Suns also lost out on ex-West Sydney Wanderers goalkeeper Jerrad Tyson, who was expected to sign when the transfer window opened after training with the club, but he opted for a move to Hong Kong.

Suns’ team manager and board member Michael Crisera confirmed other NPLV players had been approached, but could not yet comment on who they were.

‘‘We just have to keep adding depth. We lost Josh Glover and others, so we’re definitely going to keep adding,’’ Crisera said.

Crisera also confirmed Melvyn Wilkes, the club’s inaugural technical director and senior coach, would not be returning to the Suns.

‘‘We’ve exhausted all avenues to get him a suitable working visa,’’ Crisera said.

‘‘At the moment, Pat Kielty and Dave Davkovski are sharing the technical director’s role and are doing a great job.

‘‘We’re really looking hard to get someone in. We valued Wilkes’ service; he helped build the club out of mid-air.’’

Crisera said it was difficult to get Wilkes a working visa due to the Suns being such a new club, but said they had tried a number of different avenues, including a temporary work (long-stay activity) visa (subclass 401) to participate in high-level sport.

‘‘We need Football Federation Australia to endorse that and we got a letter from (FFA chief executive David) Gallop saying that would not be possible,’’ Crisera said.

‘‘It’s not that we don’t want him here. He was an ideal candidate with his CV, but he left the country and now it’s very high risk to get him back.’’

In other NPLV news, Shepparton United striker Carl Lamb has agreed to a move to Dandenong Thunder, which beat the Suns 4-0 in round 12.