Brisbane Roar head coach Ruben Zadkovich highlighted the “shining light” for the Isuzu UTE A-League club this season which has been producing “sellable assets” with academy graduate Lucas Herrington on the cusp of an overseas transfer.
It has been a challenging 2024-25 campaign for the Roar, who are back at Suncorp Stadium on Tuesday night for a showdown with finals-chasing Adelaide United, four days on from their drought-ending upset win against Western United.
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After a 410-day drought, Brisbane finally celebrated a home win at the expense of the Premiership contenders as they climbed off the foot of the table, leapfrogging fellow strugglers Perth Glory.
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Aside from results, the Roar have unearthed young gun Herrington on the back of Thomas Waddingham’s big move to EFL Championship outfit Portsmouth in England.
The 17-year-old Herrington – dubbed the “best defender in Australian football” by Zadkovich earlier in the season – has been linked with a move to MLS outfit Colorado Rapids.
On the eve of Brisbane’s clash with seventh-placed Adelaide, Zadkovich told reporters: “We’ve been very clear with our ideology in what we’re trying to achieve and that’s to try and produce sellable assets for the club.
“We’ve been able to do that with the development of Thomas Waddingham. We will be able to do that with a sale of a Lucas Herrington which is close and there’s a lot of interest for him. That’s a big positive.
“Those finances will make a big difference for the club moving forward.
“I think there’s four or five other sellable assets that we’ve been able to produce this season which is probably something the club maybe didn’t have last season. I think that’s probably the shining light.”
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Zadkovich said “we will have to wait and see” if Herrington will feature in Brisbane’s final two matches.
Pressed on whether a move to Colorado was imminent, Zadkovich replied: “I won’t give too much away but there’s a lot interest from a lot of different clubs. But that’s one of them.
“It has to be right club, the right move for the player and the right business deal for the club.
“But in the football department, we’ve done our bit and that’s to take Lucas from U23s NPL level in the space of 12 months to marking some of Australia’s best strikers in the A-League.
“He’s a massive talent, he is a really coachable young lad and we’re very proud of his development.”
