Melbourne Victory has signed talented teenagers Lucas Spinella and Thomas Deng as contracted National Youth League players for the next two Hyundai A-League seasons.
Both players are products of the club’s youth development program, reinforcing and highlighting the benefit from the club’s commitment to nurturing promising young players through its youth teams.
Spinella, 18, began his junior football career at Bulleen FC, while also spending time at the Australian Institute of Sport, before joining Victory.
The unfortunate back injury to Nathan Coe in March paved the way for Spinella to be selected as reserve goalkeeper on three occasions during the Hyundai A-League 2014/15 season, but he is yet to take to the pitch for the senior team.
Deng, also 18, was born in Nairobi, Kenya and came to Australia at the age of six with his mother, plying his junior football trade at Green Gully Soccer Club in Melbourne’s west.
The rapid rise of Deng continued recently when he made his senior debut for Victory in the Westfield FFA Cup Round of 32 clash with Balmain Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on August 4, earning the plaudits of head coach Kevin Muscat for his performance.
“Tommy defied his inexperience with an impressive performance in the FFA Cup and in doing so reinforced our belief that he has a very bright future at our football club,” Muscat said.
“Lucas has worked extremely hard on his game, particularly over the past 12 months, and has been rewarded for that hard work and also for his continued strong performances in our National Youth League and National Premier League teams.
“Both Lucas and Tommy are fine young men and they both have put the required amount of work into improving themselves and I look forward to working more closely with them both to further develop their careers.”
