Melbourne City FC have signed promising young players Paulo Retre and Marc Marino ahead of the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season.
Retre, 21, is an example of Melbourne City FC’s commitment to nurturing young talent through its youth pathways to senior football, with the midfielder emerging from two years with the club’s Foxtel National Youth League (FNYL) set-up to earn a senior deal.
Retre travelled to England with Melbourne City FC to experience Carrington’s English Premier League-standard facilities and featured in matches against Bury, Oldham Athletic and Bolton Wanderers in July.
Born and bred in Melbourne, Retre was handed four senior appearances last season while contracted to the FYNL team, and has continued to impress Head Coach John van’t Schip.
“Paulo has obviously been with us for some time and his signing builds on our tradition of developing and promoting players from youth to senior contracts – and rewarding those players who illustrate progress,” van’t Schip said.
Marino, 18, is a promising striker who plied his trade with the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in the FNYL last season, where he first caught the eye of Melbourne City FC coaches.
A mobile, hard-working number 9 from South Australia, Marino joins the club as an NYL Contracted Player.
Each Hyundai A-League club is afforded three additional youth-aged players outside of its 23-player squad with Marino occupying one of those three spots alongside Jacob Melling, who joined in May.
Marino trialled for Melbourne City FC against Whittlesea in a behind-closed-doors match before the team left for Manchester for a pre-season camp at Manchester City’s Carrington Training Facility.
van’t Schip is very pleased the Club has secured Marino.
“We have been very impressed by Marc’s progress. Marc looks like a natural goal-scorer and has a good instinct in the penalty box,” van’t Schip said.
“He finds a way to get in behind players to finish and create goal-scoring opportunities which is particularly exciting for us.”
Marino and Retre join the likes of Melling, Connor Chapman, Ben Garuccio and Stefan Mauk as the Club helps develop the next generation of Hyundai A-League talent.
Retre will wear number 18 for Melbourne City FC, while Marino will wear number 26.
Permanent playing squad signed for 2014/15 to date (21 players): James Brown, Connor Chapman, Damien Duff, Mate Dugandzic, Ben Garuccio, Jonatan Germano, Jason Hoffman, Nick Kalmar, Patrick Kisnorbo, Robert Koren, Marc Marino, Stefan Mauk, Jacob Melling, Aaron Mooy, Massimo Murdocca, Iain Ramsay, Andrew Redmayne, Paulo Retre, Tando Velaphi, Robbie Wielaert, David Williams
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Player Information
Paulo Retre
DOB: 4 March 1993 (age 21
Place of birth: Melbourne, Australia
Position: Midfielder
Current contract details: One-year contract (expires end of Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season)
Marc Marino
DOB: 30 April 1996 (age 18)
Place of birth: Adelaide, South Australia
Position: Striker/Winger
Current contract details: Two-year contract (expires end of Hyundai A-League 2015/16 season)
