Sydney FC head coach Ufuk Talay said the Sky Blues would “love to keep” Adrian Segecic beyond the current Isuzu UTE A-League season amid speculation over his future.
Segecic is out of contract at the end of the 2024-25 campaign amid a breakout season for Sydney.
The 20-year-old has made a name as a super-sub this term, scoring a career-high seven goals in the A-Leagues and another five en route to the AFC Champions League Two quarter-finals.
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Segecic is soaring to new heights after his European adventure last season, which saw the versatile youngster on loan with Dordrecht in the Dutch second division.
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“I think not just Sega,” Talay said when asked about Segecic’s future ahead of Saturday’s trip to Macarthur Bulls. “I think there’s a few boys that are coming off contract that obviously work in the background is happening in retaining players that we believe are going to take the club forward for next season.
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“He’s definitely one of them. Where it’s progressing at, I’m not too sure that’s a Alex Baumjohann (head of player management) question. He’s the one that deals with the agents and contracts.
“He’s definitely one player that we’d love to keep.”
Asked if part of him would advise for Segecic to stay with Sydney beyond 2024-25 to continue his development before moving abroad, Talay added: “It is always is a big step, but you never know until you take that step as well. It’s one of those ones.
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“We definitely would love to have Sega for next season, maybe even beyond that as well. But at the end of the day, sometimes opportunities arise for players, and you don’t know when the right timing is.
“For us, we’re very happy with the way Sega is performing. We’d definitely like to keep him with us.
“But if the opportunity arises where he has an opportunity to go overseas, I think it’s one of those ones where you make the decision, is the best decision to go.”
