English winger Joe Lolley’s bid to join Perth Glory denied by Sydney FC

One of the A-League’s most exciting players wants to leave Sydney FC to join a rival club, but the Sky Blues won’t let him go.

Sydney FC has refused a request from star winger Joe Lolley to leave the club to join Perth Glory.

The news comes as the Sky Blues prepare to add to their attacking arsenal with the signing of former Adelaide United and Macarthur FC forward Al Hassan Toure from American outfit FC Tulsa.

Englishman Lolley, 32, was linked with a move to Perth two months ago despite being contracted to Sydney until the end of the 2025-26 A-League season.

At the time, the Sky Blues would only agree to a move if it was in exchange for star Glory striker Adam Taggart, but that was rejected by Perth, who had no intention of letting the Socceroos marksman leave the club.

Sydney FC won’t allow Joe Lolley to leave the Sky Blues to join Perth Glory. Picture: Jason McCawley/Getty Images

However, Glory director of football Stan Lazaridis has confirmed that the club has kept a visa player spot free in its 2025-26 squad and written to the Sky Blues asking them to accept Lolley’s request to join Perth.

“Joe got in contact with us to tell us he wanted to play for us,” Lazaridis said.

“We would love to have Joe Lolley at our football club, and we wrote to Sydney about it, but they don't want to let him go.

“There’s not a lot more we can do, as Joe is contracted to Sydney.”

Sky Blues chief executive Mark Aubrey said Lolley was a “required player” at Sydney.

“We have no intention of letting him go,” Aubrey said.

Sydney’s head of player management Alexander Baumjohann is understood to have the same attitude as Aubrey in not allowing Lolley to leave.

However, it’s believed that Sydney coach Ufuk Talay would have no qualms about Lolley leaving the Sky Blues, fearing that keeping a player who did not want to be at the club would have a negative effect on the team.

But Aubrey said Lolley – who played in the Sky Blues’ 2-1 win over Wrexham last Tuesday – was a “professional” and would get on with his job of being a Sydney player.

Lolley featured in the Sky Blues’ 2-1 win over Wrexham. Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

Meanwhile, 25-year-old Toure is hoping to revive his career with his move to the Sky Blues after spending the past two seasons abroad.

Before joining Tulsa in April, the former Australian under-23 international had stints in Turkey with Eyupspor and Sanliurfaspor, and in France with Ajaccio.

In 75 A-League appearances – 33 as a starter – for Adelaide and Macarthur, Toure scored seven goals.

Elsewhere, the Glory has added to their coaching staff, with former Wellington Phoenix assistant coach Adam Griffith joining Perth in a similar role.

The Glory also has a new goalkeeper coach, with German Kristian Barbuscak replacing Danny Milosevic.