Pre-season form earns Pete a deal
BRISBANE Roar are set to reward Peter Skapetis for his impressive pre-season form by upgrading his contract.
Presently on an injury-replacement deal as cover for Daniel Bowles (knee), attacking weapon Skapetis will be offered a full-time A-League contract for the 2017-18 season.
The 22-year-old forward – once on the books of English Premier League club Stoke City before his career was threatened by serious knee injuries – scored in the Roar’s 2-1 win over China’s Under-22 team on Monday night and also netted a cracker in Brisbane’s otherwise forgettable 5-1 FFA Cup loss to Melbourne Victory on August 9.
“Peter’s had some bad luck with injuries and he has come back to Australia looking for an opportunity to resurrect his career and we want to give him that opportunity,” Roar coach John Aloisi said.
“We knew he had an eye for goal and he’s shown that so far in the pre-season.”
Aloisi said the signing of Melbourne-born Skapetis to full-time A-League deal would not prevent the Roar from bringing another attacking player, most likely a foreigner, to the club.
“We’ll still have room in the salary cap,” he said.
The Roar continue their ALeague preparations on Friday night with a trial against Melbourne Victory in Ballarat.
Aloisi was confident that former Victory star Fahid Ben Khalfallah and influential defender Avraam Papadopoulos would both get their first taste of pre-season action.
Striker Nick D’Agostino should also be fit to play after recovering from a bout of concussion he suffered on the training paddock.
However, Danish midfielder Thomas Kristensen might miss another match because of a hamstring problem.