Newly-appointed Melbourne Victory captain Mark Milligan insists he is not disappointed by the club’s failure to agree a transfer fee with English Premier League side Crystal Palace.
Newly-appointed Melbourne Victory captain Mark Milligan insists he is not disappointed by the club’s failure to agree a transfer fee with English Premier League side Crystal Palace.
Milligan, 28, was announced as the Victory’s new captain at Crown Casino on Tuesday, taking the armband from defender Adrian Leijer.
The Australia international was the subject of several bids from Palace, all of which failed to meet the Victory’s valuation of the versatile midfielder.
Despite a move to England’s top flight being a ‘dream’, Milligan – who still has two years remaining on his contract – said he understood the club’s decision.
“I don’t think disappointment is the correct word for it,” Milligan said on Tuesday.
“Throughout the negotiations, it was made clear from a very young age obviously I’ve wanted to go to the Premier League and play but we were all very open with each other and a lot of discussions took place on it.
“At no stage did I want the club to short change themselves as well. I’m very happy here in Melbourne, I wanted to make sure the club was doing things for their reasons as well.
“I didn’t want to put any added pressure on the situation, but as I said, it has been clear for a long time and for a lot of footballers that that was a dream.
“The final decision was with Melbourne and the outcome is what the outcome is. I’ve made it very publicly known that I’m very happy here and my family is very happy here.”
Victory coach Ange Postecoglou said the captaincy change was a challenge to both Leijer and Milligan to take their games to another level.
The former Brisbane Roar coach said he expected Premier League clubs to show interest in Milligan in the future.
“I think it’s not the last time we’ll hear from a Premier League club about Mark, for sure,” Postecoglou said.
“If he has the season that I believe he can and takes his game to another level, there is every likelihood that he won’t be around longer too.
“Part of giving him the captaincy is to try and take him to the next level and if he does then that’s great. We’ll take great pride in that.”
Postecoglou said the Victory could have stuck with Leijer as captain, but believes a change will lead to improvement from both Milligan and the 27-year-old defender.
“From my way of thinking, it was a challenge to two of the outstanding people at our football club to see if they can take us to where we want to be and that is the ultimate success,” he said.
