Headline news
Whichever club Aaron Mooy is going to play for in Europe next season, he won’t have to go far to get there.
The Melbourne City star has already bid farewell to Australia as he prepares to make easily the most important move of his career.
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New suitors in for Mooy's signature
Mooy was with his partner, Nicola, and their daughter, Skylar, in Scotland, spending time with Nicola’s family, in the lead up to Australia’s international against England late last month.
While he returned to Australia with the Socceroos for the two internationals against Greece earlier this month, Mooy then went back to Scotland to rejoin his family and consider the contract offers that he has been made.
After a holiday in Spain he was due back in Scotland late this week and it's anticipated a decision on his future is not far away – hopefully next week.
The word
Celebrity agent Max Markson has about as much trouble coming up with a quote as Bruno Fornaroli does coming up with a goal and he didn’t hesitate when Daily Mail Australia asked him what he thought a move to the A-League would be worth for Tim Cahill.
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The Cahill Factor
"I think Cahill will land a deal with Melbourne City and the FFA will make him the face of football in Australia and also part of his deal will involve Foxtel," Markson said.
"The deal would be around six million dollars - I think he will be the six million dollar man."
Markson, like The Warm-up, is obviously old enough to remember Lee Majors starring in The Six Million Dollar Man television series, where astronaut Steve Austin was rebuilt using bionic implants after a crash, at a cost of $6 million.
Maybe Cahill, 36, could eventually use some parts like that to help prolong his career.
What did you do on your holidays?
Wellington Phoenix coach Ernie Merrick is back in the New Zealand now, as he prepares his team for next season, but when The Warm-up recently spoke to him he was indulging in one of his other passions.
"I’m with my wife and a couple of friends and we’re doing the trip from Darwin across to Broome and Cable Beach," Merrick said.
"It’s about 35 degrees and I’ve had a swim and a beer, so I’m going well.
"We’re touring for two-and-a-half weeks, using four-wheel drive campervans, and it’s the third big trip I’ve done in the outback. It’s the Kimberley region I particularly like, so we’re driving across the Kimberley.
"It’s quite exciting. I love this sort of stuff. I’ve been across the Kimberley once before and driven to the Pilbara once and other than that I’ve driven across the Nullarbor and up high on the east coast as well.
"I love the outdoors. I’m a PE teacher by profession. It’s good to get away, but I have to say I’m on email every day.
"It’s a crucial time to get your schedule in order, your pre-season friendlies and recruitment, talking to agents and talking about players with my operations manager.
"But it’s only about 30 minutes a day and I’d rather do that than get a surprise when I get back and discover someone has disappeared or whatever."
Doctor Football
Dear Doctor Football,
I’m really having a lot of trouble getting my head around this. One minute I’m at the biggest club in the country, and the next I’m at the Mariners. How did this happen? And who the hell is Mitch Austin anyway?
Connor, Terrigal
Dear Connor,
Concentrate on the positives. One, it doesn’t matter how bad your team goes, there is no relegation in the A-League. Two, you won’t have to worry about Besart Berisha complaining that you didn’t put the ball on a dime for him. And, three, sitting back with a beer overlooking Terrigal beach after a hard day of pre-season training has got to be better than freezing your butt off in "Bleak City".
Dedication
Thanks to three losses in three A-League grand finals, Western Sydney Wanderers coach Tony Popovic still hasn’t found what he’s looking for.
But “Popa” is in good company – neither have U2 and they’ve been looking for a lot longer.