Phoenix cool on Krishna comeback
New Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano is determined to keep hold of star striker Oskar Zawada and says it would take a big offer to prise the prolific Pole away.
Zawada has been the subject of speculation in the Netherlands linking him with a move to Dutch Eredivisie club Heerenveen as a possible replacement for their outgoing striker Sydney van Hooijdonk.
Zawada experienced a breakout first season with the Phoenix and he was voted the fans’ player of the year at the A-Leagues’ Dolan-Warren Awards ceremony on Thursday after scoring a career-best 15 goals.
The reported interest in the Phoenix’s top scorer last season emerged shortly after the club’s alltime record scorer Roy Krishna signalled a desire to return to the A-League Men following four years in India.
But Italiano has cooled talk of a shock Krishna comeback at 35. He said no offers have been made for Zawada and that he expected the Polish target man to report back for the start of pre-season in July, leaving no room for Krishna.
Zawada has another year left to run on his two-year deal but they risk losing him for nothing at the end of next season.
‘‘At this time of year there’s a lot of speculation about players moving and where they could go, and fans love doing it as well,’’ Italiano said.
‘‘But I think it’s more talk than anything at the moment. I read there was an article last week talking about clubs in Holland, but we haven’t heard anything on our side.
‘‘We hold him in really high regard and his value for us is significant, so we would need something that would reflect that and that’s something that we’ve discussed internally as a club.
‘‘For me selfishly, I don’t want to see him go because I want to build all my attacking elements around him.’’
Unless Zawada was to leave, it was unlikely the Phoenix would entertain a move for Krishna, Italiano added.
Although Krishna is no longer counted as an import, Italiano was happy with his current group of strikers and won’t be looking to sign any more attacking players.
‘‘I know the agent has reached out to the club but at present, as everything stands, my quota in the attacking department is where I expect it to be.
‘‘If that changes I’ll have to reassess and bring in someone else, so it wouldn’t be a no to Roy at this stage, but I have four really good attacking players I can play in that role.’’
Italiano also shot down reports linking the Phoenix with a move for Costa Rican international midfielder Youstin Salas.
The Saprissa player has been rumoured to have an offer on the table from the Phoenix and from Major League Soccer club Orlando City.
But Italiano echoed comments he made when he took over from Ufuk Talay that he would be using his final import spot on a centre-back, not a midfielder.
‘‘I don’t think there’s any truth to that rumour. It’s nothing like the media [in Costa Rica] has presented.
‘‘I’ve said from day one the intention is to bring in a foreign centreback with some leadership aspects to complement the backline and my mindset hasn’t changed on that.’’