Western United head coach John Aloisi believes Noah Botic has decided to leave the club, amid reports linking the Western striker to a European move.
Botic, 23, scored his 16th goal of the season in Western’s 1-1 draw with Melbourne City in the second leg of their Semi-Final tie on Saturday night. The result saw City progress to the Grand Final after a 3-0 win in the first leg sealed a 4-1 aggregate margin in favour of Western’s Semi-Final opponents.
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Saturday’s draw brought an end to Western’s 2024-25 Isuzu UTE A-League campaign.
It was a breakout season for Botic, who scored four Finals Series goals to finish the campaign six goals clear of the club’s second-highest scorer (Hiroshi Ibusuki, 10 goals).
Botic has been recently linked to Bundesliga club St. Pauli – home to Socceroos duo Jackson Irvine and Connor Metcalfe.
Although hopeful to see Botic remain at the club, Aloisi conceded the young striker’s mind was set on an off-season move as he addressed the media post-game.
“I wish that he would stay but I don’t think he’s going to stay. I think that he’ll go,” Aloisi said.
“I think he’ll go overseas, I think his mind is set to go overseas and I wish him all the best.
“Hopefully, I cross paths with him again one day.”
Aloisi himself is off contract at Western and after four seasons at the helm, expressed his intention to stay on in Tarneit – although he didn’t rule out the prospect of a move overseas if an offer was to be presented to him in the off-season.
When asked if Saturday’s Semi-Final was his last game at the club, Aloisi replied: “I hope not, I don’t think so.
“There’s still a lot to go through and conversations with the club, so let’s just wait and see. I haven’t really thought about it too much over the last month because I wanted to fully focus on the finals. Now we’ve got time to reflect and see where we need to improve as a club, and where we need to get better as a squad, and see how we can build for next season.”
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As for the prospect of an overseas move to continue his coaching career, Aloisi said: “That’s only if an offer comes up, I’ll look at it, but at the moment there’s nothing there.”
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