Adelaide United has a fight on its hands as it attempts to sign striker Tomi Juric in January
Former Reds striker Tomi Juric has been sought for a return to the club in January as rivals hover to snare the prized signatures of young Reds Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and Nikola Mileusnic.
Adelaide United
Don't miss out on the headlines from Adelaide United. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Former Adelaide United striker Tomi Juric has been sought for a return to the club in January as rivals hover to snare the prized signatures of young Reds striker Apostolos Stamatelopoulos and winger Nikola Mileusnic.
Stamatelopoulos, 19, and Mileusnic, 25, are off contract and can talk to other clubs.
Stamatelopoulos is being chased by an A-League rival with foreign clubs keen to take a closer look at Mileusnic.
Juric is the one Adelaide is keen to snare now. He is still contracted to FC Luzern but the Swiss club are contemplating releasing Juric from the six months remaining on his contract.
Adelaide, however, does have a fight on its hands for Juric with Swiss club Sion also interested in the Socceroos striker.
It’s understood Reds officials made an inquiry to Football Federation Australia asking if they would help fund securing Juric through its marquee funding program used to lure Japanese star Keisuke Honda to the A-League when he penned a reported $3 million deal with Melbourne Victory this year.
But FFA has reportedly said no to Adelaide’s Juric request.
Talk the club was trying to lure former Sydney FC striker Bobo never got serious.
The 27-year-old Juric was a Reds player for half a season signed from Croatian club Inter Zapreic during February, 2013 when Michael Valkanis was in charge.
The then 21-year-old was released at the end of the 2013 short stint when Valkanis reportedly had no room for him.
Juric then signed for Western Sydney where he caught the eye of Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou and Italy’s 2006 FIFA World Cup winning boss Marcello Lippi.
Juric scored a winning goal against Lippi’s then Chinese club Guangzhou Evergrande in the 2014 AFC Champions League quarter final before Wanderers claimed the biggest club trophy in Asia. It prompted a Chinese frenzy for the hard working striker.
Evergrande offered Juric $2.8 million upfront in a bid to sign the marksman as rival club Shanghai Shenhua was circling.
Juric reportedly rejected an $18 million three-year deal from Shanghai in 2015 which would have secured a $1.5 million fee for his then club Wanderers.
Juric eventually signed for Dutch club Roda on a free transfer that year.
He won an AFC Asian Cup medal in 2015 for the Socceroos and was at the FIFA World Cup in Russia this year.
Adelaide has not responded to a request for comment on interest in Juric.
The Tackle: Perth in the pits, Black Knights’ perfect debut
It was a horror start to the A-League season from Perth, while Auckland made an almighty first impression and more is on the agenda as ROBBIE SLATER and MARCO MONTEVERDE go through a big first round.
ALM Attack: Why this may be the end of Mariners fairytale story
With the A-Leagues back for a new season, can the Mariners back up their heroics of recent years and make it three in a row, plus week one’s strange scheduling and more is on the agenda in the return of On the Attack.