Football
AAP 6y

Sydney FC won't rush into marquee signing - chief executive Danny Townsend


Sydney FC won't rush into signing replacements for Bobo and Adrian Mierzejewski, with chief executive Danny Townsend aiming to reel in a big fish as European transfer actions heats up.

The Sky Blues are searching far and wide as they attempt to cover the loss of Bobo, who earlier this year broke the record for most goals in an A-League season, and Mierzejewski, who claimed the Johnny Warren medal in his only season with the club.

They unsuccessfully courted Spanish striker Fernando Torres, while Japanese star Keisuke Honda has been strongly linked with Melbourne Victory.

Townsend still has high hopes of attracting a high-profile player with the help of the Football Federation Australia's marquee fund.

"Torres was obviously one to be allocated some of those funds. If we come up with another one that has that level of marketing attraction then we'd put it to the FFA," he told AAP.

"We're doing that every day. Every day another player comes up, we ask the question.

"They run it through their models and tell us if it's viable.

"The important thing is we don't need to rush. We've got the core nucleus of the team in place and we'll look to add some quality, most probably in the front three."

The A-League season starts in October while European transfer windows close in August.

"If you look back over the years, our foreign players have come in reasonably late," Townsend said.


"We're not panicking, we've got plenty of time.

"We want to make the right decision both from a performance and marketing perspective.

"There's plenty of fish in the sea ... every day throws up a different name.

"There's so many different players, particularly as the window in Europe opens and gets going post World Cup; there'll be more and more opportunities."

Bobo and Mierzejewski scored a combined 40 goals in the 2017-18 season, underling the immense void the Sky Blues are attempting to fill.

Captain Alex Brosque -- who has scored more goals and made more appearance for Sydney FC than any other player -- insists the duo's departure won't change the way his side plays.

"Our style, defensively how aggressive we are ... that won't change," Brosque said.

"The boys that come in will have to adapt to that and learn that quickly.

"Adrian and Bobo leave a very big hole, when you consider what they did last season, but it's the way football is.

"They'll leave and new players will replace them and do just as good a job."

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