New Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold has continued his spate of recent signings, extending the deals Milos Dimitrijevic and Ivan Necevski for next season.
Sydney FC-s Serbian midfielder Milos Dimitrijevic and Australian goalkeeper Ivan Necevski have signed new one year contracts with the Sky Blues keeping the duo at the club until the end of the 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season.
Dimitrijevic, who joined the Sky Blues in January, made nine appearances for the club and quickly made a name for himself with his range of passing and skills on the ball.
The former Nantes Youth Academy graduate and Serbian under-21 international will link up with Graham Arnold-s squad when they return for training in June and the midfielder is relishing the opportunity of playing under the Championship winning Head Coach.
“I-m very excited to get back to training,” Dimitrijevic said.
“Graham Arnold is a very good coach, he has some bold ideas and I believe with the team that we have, we can win the Grand Final under him and make the Asian Champions League.
“It is my ambition to win medals here and by staying with the biggest club in Australia I believe I can help make that happen.”
Ivan Necevski has made 45 appearances for the Sky Blues winning the club-s Players- Player of the Year award in 2011/12, and has proven a more than reliable keeper during his seven year career with Sydney FC.
In signing the new contract, the Sydney born shot-stopper, and dual Premiership and Championship winner, will become the longest serving player at the Sky Blues after Terry McFlynn-s retirement last season.
Necevski said he was pleased to be signing on with the Sydney FC, and has his sights set on claiming another Championship winner-s medal and a berth in the AFC Asian Champions League next season.
“I-m happy to extend my time with Sydney FC,” Necevski said.
“I was involved when we won the Premiership and then the Grand Final in Melbourne and I believe with the ambitions Graham Arnold has, and being involved in a winning team and a winning environment, it will put us in good stead to make the top two, win the Grand Final and play in the Champions League as well.”
Necevski said the relationship he has built up with the club over the past seven years was a key factor in helping him make his decision to renew with the Sky Blues.
“It-s coming up to my eighth season now and I-m really looking forward to it. I-m just going to work hard and enjoy my football,” Necevski said.
“I-ve been at the club a long time and when it comes to work and family I-m a very loyal person so I didn-t see the need to look elsewhere. It was a no brainer for me to stay in my home city.”
Head Coach Graham Arnold was delighted to add more depth and strength to his squad.
“Obviously Milos is another quality foreign player,” he said. “We saw bits and pieces of that quality last year with him only arriving half way through the season and not being fully fit.
“After a full pre-season we will be expecting to see a lot more from him this year.
“Ivan brings a lot of experience having played a number of A-League games for this club,” continued Arnold.
“It-s great to be able to have two first choice A-League keepers in the squad to be able to choose from.”
With the recent acquisitions of Bernie Ibini, Matthew Jurman and Shane Smeltz, Necevski and Dimitrijevic become the fourth and fifth players to be signed by new Head Coach Graham Arnold.
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