Ahead of a highly-anticipated pre-season meeting with Wrexham AFC, Melbourne Victory boss Arthur Diles revealed how he will approach the game and shed light on Mitch Langerak’s selfless decision to hang up the gloves.
Melbourne Victory will field a strong starting XI featuring two exciting new signings before handing opportunities to youngsters in their clash with Championship outfit Wrexham on Friday night at Marvel Stadium.
“It’s an opportunity for a lot of our NPL players to get minutes,” Victory head coach Arthur Diles told reporters.
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“We’ll field our strongest XI to start the match, and we’re just going through the loading now to see what we can tolerate in terms of minutes for the starting side.
“We’ve got a good side to field tomorrow, some of our new signings will be present in that, which is great for our fans to get a nice early look at them.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing them in the new colours; Louis D’Arrigo, Keegan, Jelacic, they’ve trained really well since they’ve been here and it’ll be really exciting to see them put on the jersey tomorrow.”
Diles revealed he learned the eight-time Socceroo, who also played in Germany, Spain and Japan, before his career came full circle at Victory, would hang up the gloves at the end of the Isuzu UTE A-League season – and praised his selfless decision to step away.
“Yeah, (I found out) at the end of the season. Very unfortunate the way the season ended for Mitch, obviously, the injury got the better of him,” Diles explaind.
“I think someone like Mitch, who came back here knowing that he wanted to contribute, the moment that he felt that he couldn’t contribute at the level that he expects, I respect that.
“Many people before him, and I’m sure many people after him, will continue to just play and pick up a wage, thinking that it’s okay to drop their level, and it’s okay because I’m back in the A League.
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“He came back, he saw the level of the A-League is very high, different to when he left. He saw that he maybe couldn’t compete at the level that he wanted to.
“And I respect the fact that he said, ‘ok, I’ll walk on my terms and I’m ready to retire’.
“It’s not an easy decision to make for any footballer, and the fact that he’s been able to make that tells you that he’s in the right headspace, and he’s done, ultimately, what’s right for himself and obviously what’s right for the club.
“That shows how much his club means to Mitch by making that decision and not extending one extra year knowing that he couldn’t fulfill his commitment and his end of the agreement.”
Langerak will remain at Victory in a coaching role in the club’s academy program, developing the next generation of goalkeepers.
“Yeah, that’s a fantastic role for him,” Diles said.
“It’s a privilege for the young keepers in our academy now, and it’s important that, you know, we use that as a club to our advantage, to build the next crop of goalkeepers.
“We’ve got Davide (Del Giovine) here, who’s done an amazing job since he’s come to this football club. All you have to do is look at the keepers in the last few seasons since he’s been here, the level of (Paul) Izzo when he departed, the season that he had.
“Now Jack (Duncan) last year, Mitch, last year, he’s doing a fantastic job, and Mitch will work closely with Davide there, because Mitch is now at the beginning of that journey.
“He’s obviously got a lot of experience, but he’s obviously got a lot of learning to do as well, because now it’s a different hat that he’s wearing. But I think together, those two can produce some incredible keepers in the years to come.”
