Brisbane Roar’s future defensive stocks have received a huge boost with young centre back Luke DeVere signing a three-year contract extension on Tuesday.
Since arriving at the Roar from the Australian Institute of Sport in 2008 the talented defender has established himself as a key figure in the team and one of the club’s brightest prospects.
Coach Ange Postecoglou was ‘delighted’ to have locked in DeVere, whom he said was “probably the best young central defender in the country”.
“This is the first step in building a better Roar not just for next year but the next few years,” Postecoglou said.
“Luke’s exactly the kind of player we want here. He’s ambitious and he’s obviously done well so far but he wants to get better and he’s got big plans.”
“He wants to be the very best and we want to provide an environment that helps him do that.”
Postecoglou said negotiations in tandem with newly appointed football manager Thiago Cruz left him confident the 20-year-old would choose to stick by the club which gave him his first professional deal despite keen interest from several other A-League clubs.
“When you come from the starting point of both parties wanting to continue (the agreement), I was never really worried that it wasn’t going to happen,” he said.
“We wanted to keep him and Thiago put in a lot of hard work over the last couple of weeks and got it done.”
Fresh from scoring in the Roar’s 1-1 draw against Perth Glory on the weekend, DeVere said he was eager to show some loyalty to the club.
“They (the Roar) are the ones who gave me the opportunity to begin with and I’d like to repay the favour, stay here for a few years and hopefully try to build something,” the former Young Socceroo said.
“I think the club has got a lot of good talent here, there’s a good squad and hopefully in the future we can do some good things.”
Although admitting the lure of a move overseas was tempting, he said improving at Brisbane alongside Socceroos legend Craig Moore was his first priority.
“It was about making the right decision for me personally and finding a club where I can develop my game further to springboard myself to the next level,” he said.
“All young players dream of playing overseas I suppose but for me it’s about going over at the right time after I’ve established myself here.”
“Now it’s about getting a lot of consistency in my game and putting solid performances together.”
