A-League clubs to receive much-needed financial boost during transfer window

John Aloisi wants to see more A-League clubs profit by selling their best young talent to overseas teams.

Socceroos great and Western United coach John Aloisi says the “business” of A-League teams selling their best young players is crucial to the survival of Australian clubs.

With the transfer window having opened on Thursday, A-League clubs affected by the severe slashing of distributions fees will receive some much-needed funds for the sale of their young talent.

Macarthur FC are set on secure an up-front fee of about $A830,000 for the sale of 20-year-old attacker Ariath Piol to American club Real Salt Lake, while Brisbane Roar are expected to receive more than $A390,000 for the services of 19-year-old attacker Thomas Waddingham, who has been bought by English Championship outfit Portsmouth.

Macarthur and Brisbane will also receive funds for potential future sales of Piol and Waddingham respectively.

Western United is poised to sell goalkeeper Thomas Heward-Belle to an Asian club, with Aloisi hopeful that there is interest shown in more of his players from overseas teams during the window.

Building for Friday 🔋 pic.twitter.com/pQNWVeHMTb

— Western United FC (@wufcofficial) January 15, 2025

“Everyone says that bringing through younger players and losing them might disrupt the A-League a little bit, but I think that’s part of what our league is for, to develop players, get players to play at an early age, which we’re doing really well, and then eventually see them go to the highest level possible,” Aloisi said ahead of his in-form team’s battle with Newcastle at Ironbark Fields on Friday.

“A lot of time that is in Europe or somewhere in Asia, and it can become a business that makes a club sustainable, so I think it’s a positive.

“I hope that keeps on happening. I hope that we start to get some transfers within our club, because that means that not only it’s good for the club, but it’s also good for the individual.”

Aloisi said the growing American market should not be ignored by Australian clubs.

“That’s something that we can look at, because the MLS (Major League Soccer) is similar to us, in that they have a salary cap, they’re new as a league, they haven’t been around like a lot of the European leagues, so we can have a look and see what they’ve done really well, and then try and bring it into our league.” he said.

“It (the MLS) is growing pretty quickly, and that’s only a positive for the world game. When you want to talk about football, if it gets bigger in the (United) States, which it is, I’m sure that’ll be better for everyone.”

United is chasing a sixth win in seven matches on Friday night.

“I put it down to quite a few players getting their fitness levels up,” Aloisi said in explaining the reason for his team’s form surge.

“We were still performing well in the first seven games We were still getting in good positions, it just wasn’t quite clicking in front of goal, but now you can see that every time we play, it looks like we’re going to score goals.

“That’s a real positive for us, so the players are full of confidence, and we just have to make sure that we keep that going.”

Originally published as A-League clubs to receive much-needed financial boost during transfer window