Wellington has secured a key addition to its squad for next season, signing Adelaide midfielder Diego on a two-year deal.
The 29-year-old Brazilian was told by the Reds that his contract will not be renewed allowing for the cross to the Phoenix who will no doubt benefit from some new attacking flair with the impending off-season departure of star striker Shane Smeltz to Hyundai A-League new boys Gold Coast United.
The Phoenix have already had Brazilian star Fred light up their squad for a number of weeks and hope Diego will provide a similar spark.
“He’s someone (coach) Ricki Herbert and I had been looking at for a while and he’s exactly the type of player we need. We had (Brazilian guest player) Fred for a few weeks and we really saw the difference he brought to the team,” chief executive Tony Pignata said.
“The agenda was to go out and get an attacking-minded midfielder and Diego really fits the bill.”
“He’s a quality player and he’s done a great job for Adelaide, particularly during their recent Asian Champions League campaign.”
Wellington is now on the hunt for more attacking players as it hopes to secure two quality strikers in the off-season.
“The key thing for us is to get three quality attacking players and we’ve secured an attacking midfielder in Diego,” Pignata said.
“Now we’re working on signing a couple of strikers. At the moment we’ve got quite a few we’re in discussions with and we’ll see what happens over the next few months.”
“We’ve had a lot of names thrown at us and it has taken time to work through all the options. We want to meet candidates in person when we can – gone are the days of simply looking at DVDs or YouTube footage.”
“It’s important to get a feel for the player you’re signing, the type of person they are, and in Diego we’ve got a player we know about who has played in the A-League and understands the competition.”
“All that made it an easier decision to sign him.”
The Phoenix are still an outside chance of competing in their first finals campaign, but will need to beat the Victory on Friday night to have any chance.
