Adelaide United has secured the services of defender Mark Rudan on the eve of its clash against Perth Glory at Hindmarsh Stadium on Friday but is unlikely to play him during the opening rounds of the Hyundai A-League season.
Rudan was a last-minute signing for the Reds and despite impressing on the training track this week will be eased into the line-up.
United coach Aurelio Vidmar said it would be ‘silly’ to rush the 33-year-old when there’s such a long season ahead.
“We know where he’s at in terms of his fitness. In a couple of weeks time with a little bit more fitness work, he’ll be up to scratch,” he said.
“He’s been looking after his own running and conditioning but it’s completely different in the group environment so in the next couple of weeks he’ll be fine.”
“We just need to keep communicating with him and he’s going to have to tell us how he feels and he’s got enough experience now to tell us whether he’s ready to go or whether he’s not. At this point of time he’s not.”
Rudan has been brought into Adelaide’s squad to fill the void left by Sasa Ognenovski who left the Reds after its Grand Final loss last year.
Vidmar said the former Sydney FC player would add valuable experience to the line-up and had already impressed his new club.
“He’s had a run around with us this week and looks in pretty good shape. For someone at 33 years of age he looks like a youngster, in terms of the way he looks after himself and the way he’s moving, so we are really pleased where he’s at, at this point in time,” he said.
“Just seeing him move and his positional sense is spot on, they are certainly fantastic attributes to have and he should have that at that age. He’s going to be a massive help for us.”
Rudan, who was a fierce opponent against Adelaide whilst playing with Sydney, admits he didn’t expect to continue his Hyundai A-League journey at Hindmarsh Stadium.
But he added he was looking forward to the challenge of securing a long-awaited Hyundai A-League championship for the Reds.
“They’ve been bridesmaids too many times now,” he said.
“I’d like to think we can go one step further, I had a look at the ins and the outs of the squad this year and there’s been one major loss as you pointed out (Ognenovski) but a few of the other boys, from what I understand, weren’t regulars of the team anyway.”
“You can never plan too far ahead in football I suppose and you take what’s on offer – not all the time – obviously it’s got to be interesting and this certainly was.”
