Myth busted: Why Sydney FC are 'more likely to sign Rapinoe than Vine'

This week’s episode of Dub Zone cleared up speculation around the Ninja A-League transfer window.

Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: no, Sydney FC are not signing United States and women’s football legend Megan Rapinoe.

The statement was merely used by Pellizzeri on the latest episode of Dub Zone to highlight the predicament reigning champions Sydney find themselves in heading into the New Year – and all clubs, for that matter, who may feel a tad light-on in terms of squad depth after the opening six rounds of the season.

For fans pondering whether their clubs might target reinforcements on the transfer market, well, there is no mid-season transfer window to look forward to. In fact, all squads around the Ninja A-League are set to remain the same until the end of April – that is, however, excluding the prospect of the acquisition of free agents.

Melbourne City utilised this method last season, acquiring retired goalkeeper Bárbara in February after the sale of fellow keeper Lysianne Proulx.

On this weekend’s episode of Dub Zone, Pellizzeri clarified the current status of the transfer market and how it impacts both Ninja A-League and NPL clubs, in relation to the current context of Sydney FC’s struggles following an off-season exodus of several Championship-winners.

“The issue is: they can’t bring back any of their former players, Sydney FC,” Pellizzeri said.

“People are saying: What about Cortnee Vine? Could she come back on loan? What about Charlie Rule or Sarah Hunter overseas? The problem is that the transfer window – there is no January transfer window.

“If anyone has told you there are boxes under the Christmas tree, those boxes are empty! There is no window to sign players. This is your squad until the 30th of April.

“The only mechanism clubs have is what Melbourne City did bringing Bárbara out of retirement last season because she was a total free agent.

“At this point, Sydney FC are more likely to sign (recently retired) Megan Rapinoe than they are to sign Cortnee Vine. You had to be a free agent on the 26th of November. Bringing a player out of retirement is that sort of situation.

“Due to the way the transfer windows work, even to play NPL in February you had to commit to your club on the 26th of November. So I could throw out names of any NPL player you want. No one in the A-League can sign them, because they’ve committed to their club for next February on the 26th of November.”