Asia » Australia

Exclusive: Brazilian Roque Junior On Sydney FC Hit List; Denilson Receives Offer

The Sky Blues are looking for an experienced central defender and the former Milan man might just fit the bill.

Apr 20, 2009 5:44:49 AM

Photo Gallery

Zoom

Roque Junior

Players

Roque Júnior

It has been confirmed that former Brazil captain Roque Junior is on Sydney FC’s list of transfer targets, though the club have denied any contact was made over a possible move for international team-mate Denilson.

Goal.com exclusively revealed last week that Junior had been offered to A-League clubs.

Sydney CEO Stefan Kamasz has confirmed that his club are considering Junior as they look for a central defender to replace the now-retired Tony Popovic.

“His [Roque Junior’s] name is on the list,” Kamasz said. “The coach [Vitezslav Lavicka] wants to sit down [and] look at what he’s got available.

“We’d like a central defender to take over from Tony Popovic – we want someone whose got leadership qualities.

“We’re always looking for left-sided players and you can never have too many strikers.

“We’ve got two spots to fill and one will be a central defender.”

Experience and leadership are two qualities that Junior would offer to the club as they look to rebuild ahead of the new A-League season.

The 32-year-old is apparently fit and eager to play in Australia, where he wants to bring a fellow Brazilian player along with him to develop.

Denilson Receives Offer; Sydney Deny Interest

He will likely not be joined in the harbour city by his countryman Denilson, who has now received an official offer from an A-League club.

Kamasz confirmed that Sydney have not contacted the ex-Real Betis star.

“He hasn’t spoken to us at all,” he continued.

“Last week we received a document asking if we would be interested in Denilson.

“We said we’d be happy to look at whatever is in front of us but it has to stack up commercially and we have to be able to afford it.

“Before we start looking at guest players, we’ve still got two positions we want to fill up in our squad and we want to concentrate on that.

“This talk of Denilson didn’t start from us and I hope it didn’t start from the agent but it’s out there and there’s no need for it.

“We haven’t even considered it – I doubt whether the coach is aware of it.”

The CEO refused to rule out a move for the World Cup winner though: “If the coach says it would be good for the team and we think it makes good commercial sense then we’d look at it.”

Chris Paraskevas, Goal.com

Thank you for your comment!

Please enter your name

Please enter your location

Please share your comment!