Central Coast Mariners have locked in exciting young striker Bernie Ibini with a new two-season contract with the club.
Central Coast Mariners have locked in exciting young striker Bernie Ibini with a new two-season contract with the club.
Following a superb start to his Hyundai A-League career and a burgeoning domestic reputaiton, Ibini has cemented his place as one of the nations- top young talents this campaign.
In 17 matches for the Mariners this term Ibini has scored four times and provided two assists – form that has made the 2011 Qantas Young Socceroos representative the target of a number of rival A-League sides.
Nevertheless, Ibini said he was pleased to extend his stay with the Mariners.
“They-ve [Central Coast Mariners] been my first professional club and they-ve been really good to me so far,” Ibini said. “Hopefully I can continue to do well for the seasons that I-ve signed.”
Rewarded with promotion to the Yellow and Navy-s Hyundai A-League squad having finished the 2010/11 NYL season as top scorer with 12 goals, Ibini added that he feels the guidance of Mariners coach Graham Arnold has been invaluable to his development.
“(Arnold) already taught me a lot about my heading because he was a good header of the ball back in his day. He-s taught me a lot with my runs off the ball and stuff like that, so he-s been really good for me so far,” he said.
Arnold welcomed the news of Ibini’s contract, but emphasised that the striker still has plenty of work to do before he reaches his full potential.
“One thing that we tried to work on was getting our young boys re-signed and after Trent Sainsbury getting Bernie Ibini signed so quickly is fantastic for the Club. Now he can just concentrate on football,” Arnold said.
“Bernie-s shown at the end of last season and this season the talent that he-s got, but he-s just got to get stronger and got to spend more minutes on the field playing every week against grown men. “It-s a great experience for him with the ACL coming up and that-s going to develop him even more.”
Ibini-s re-signing adds to the Mariners- recent retention of left full back Joshua Rose and defender Trent Sainsbury. Striker Mitchell Duke, midfielder Anthony Caceres and right side utility James Oates were also recently promoted to the Central Coast Mariners Hyundai A-League 2012/13 squad.
