Warren Joyce drops Melbourne City star Bruno Fornaroli for Jets

Melbourne City star Bruno Fornaroli has been left out of the squad for the second game in a row by coach Warren Joyce.

Melbourne City star Bruno Fornaroli shows his frustration after missing a shot on goal against Wellington Phoenix earlier this month. Picture: Getty Images

Melbourne City coach Warren Joyce has sensationally upped the ante in his selection stand-off with Bruno Fornaroli, leaving the star striker out of his squad for this weekend’s A-league fixture.

Fornaroli was omitted from City’s squad to face Brisbane last week and will now miss Sunday’s high-stakes clash with Newcastle.

Joyce was on the front-foot about the issue, saying his players had given heart-to-heart commitments in pre-season to “maximise their talents to be the best they could be every single day” in training.

The clear implication being that Fornaroli had not.

“Everybody’s got a chance every day to compete and force their way into the team … the demands on Bruno and every other player at the football club are the same,” Joyce said.

The axing ramps up pressure on City, who sit fifth after five rounds, and particularly Joyce, to get a result against the Jets.

The second-season coach wouldn’t comment on speculation that Fornaroli refused to fly to Brisbane last weekend when informed he wouldn’t be starting, or reports the 31-year-old Uruguayan failed a skinfold test before the 2-0 loss.

With the $1.5 million man on the outer, Joyce seems set to continue with Lachlan Wales up front, the 21-year-old who was earning a minimum wage at Central Coast until this season.

Joyce said he was duty-bound to honour the commitments that players made to each other before the campaign.

“If the standard of training is high every day, there’s a pretty good chance it will be high on Saturday,” he said.

“If it’s poor in training, there’s a pretty good chance it will be poor. You can’t push a magic button.

“We’re setting our standards high as a football group, not only to be winners but serial winners.

“When they are in place, you become winners and serial winners.

“The Manchester City Football Group want that. They’re serial winners themselves in the English Premier League.”

Joyce was adamant that Fornaroli’s axing didn’t mean the much-loved striker was being forced out of the club.

But there’s a well-worn path out of City walked by big names under Joyce’s stewardship.

Socceroos legend Tim Cahill left the club almost exactly a year ago after repeatedly missing selection. Club champion Neil Kilkenny and Fernando Brandan also left mid-season, while Polish marquee Marcin Budzinski departed halfway through his megabucks deal.

Joyce, who like Fornaroli is out of contract at the end of this season, denied a link between the departures of high-profile forwards Fornaroli and Cahill.

“Every player at the football club who leaves or stays does so for different reasons. I don’t think you can compare (Cahill’s) situation to another,” he said.

AAP