Adelaide United are the latest destination club-less striker Brent McGrath has turned to in his bid to find an A-League side before the season starts.
Adelaide United are the latest destination club-less striker Brent McGrath has turned to in his bid to find an A-League side before the season starts.
McGrath, 22, left Danish side Brondby and trialled at Melbourne Heart and Victory during pre-season, failing to earn a contract.
The one-time Socceroo will get a chance to impress Reds coach Josep Gombau when his side face Heart at Epping Stadium on Friday.
McGrath trained with Adelaide on Wednesday and is expected to work with the squad over the next week or so.
The Sydney-born striker may join the Reds as an injury replacement for Teeboy Kamara (ill).
With most A-League clubs finalising their squads just weeks out from the start of the season, Adelaide may be McGrath’s third and last chance to impress.
He would be competing with the likes of Bruce Djite and Spaniard Cirio for a place up front.
Gombau said he was eager to settle on his starting 11 before Adelaide’s season opener against Perth Glory at Coopers Stadium on October 13.
“It’s pre-season – sure we’ll try things but as each day gets closer to the start of the season you are getting a clearer idea of what you want because you need to practise it,” Gombau said.
“What we want is that the players start to play 90 minutes because it is not the same when you are playing 45 or 60 minutes.
“The players that we think could start in the first 11, we want them to start to play 90 minutes and to prepare as close as we can to how we want to play in the first game.
“I also want to try some different movements in the middle of the park but day by day there will be fewer experiments and more specific things that we will need in the league games.”
Adelaide’s final pre-season match against an A-League side will be on October 3, when they face Melbourne Victory behind closed doors at AAMI Park.
