Australian teenager Matt Thurtell is the latest player to trial with Wellington Phoenix.
Australian teenager Matt Thurtell is the latest player to trial with Wellington Phoenix.
Having recruited left-back Niko Tsattalios following his successful two-week spell at the club earlier this month, coach Ricki Herbert is also looking to bolster his striker stocks.
Thurtell, who has been playing for the Brisbane Strikers and was a member of Brisbane Roar’s youth team last year, certainly has an impressive goal-scoring ratio, netting a goal-a-game for his club over the past two seasons, including 17 this campaign.
“With the season not kicking off till October I am not rushing things when it comes to signings,” said Herbert.
“We’ve had a number of lads on trial and more will be coming in to training over the next few weeks.”
“Niko has been taken on board and there are still some key areas to be filled. I would hope to have those areas covered by the end of August.”
One of those areas is goalkeeper, where New Zealand No.1 Mark Paston is currently the only one on the books.
Herbert confirmed the club was in discussions with former Liverpool stopper Dean Bouzanis, who is also been linked to Hyundai A-League rivals, Melbourne Victory.
Bouzanis, 20, was signed by Liverpool in 2007 but was released in April this year without playing a senior game for them.
Wellington have 15 of the 20 players they need to complete their roster for the Hyundai A-League season, including one (Tsattalios) of the three required under-21 players.
Aside from a goalkeeper, Herbert still wants a striker and an attacking midfielder and has been looking to Europe for potential recruits.
He is also keen to get a central defender as back-up to skipper Andrew Durante and Ben Sigmund and another midfielder. Both of those could potentially be under-21 signings.
