Melbourne Victory captain Adrian Leijer is confident the identity of the club’s new coach will be revealed before facing Scottish giants Celtic at AAMI Park on July 13.
Club director Ian McLeod is currently in the United Kingdom conducting interviews with three applicants for the top job, while Mehmet Durakovic remains the local-based favourite.
Durakovic, who took over on an interim basis when Ernie Merrick was sacked in March, strengthened his chances of getting the job full-time following positive results during Victory’s AFC Champions League campaign.
Whatever the final conclusion ends up being, Leijer expects the new boss to be in charge when the Glasgow-based powerhouse meets Victory in the final leg of their three-match Australian tour.
“I’d say we would have a new coach by then, that’s the process they (the board) are going through now,” Leijer said.
“It’s exciting that our first hitout under a new regime is going to be against Celtic, it doesn’t get much bigger.”
Leijer admitted he is unaware who the board is talking to, but spoke of the significance of getting the right man for the role.
“Obviously it’s a pretty important decision,” Leijer said.
“The most important thing is the club and what direction the club wants to take. Whether they want to go down the Mehm line is completely up to them. We all watch in anticipation what direction they go with.”
“I think in the past the club’s made some good decisions and going forward I think it’s important we make the right decision to get the club back where it should be.”
The Celtic showdown will be played nine days after the Victory returns from their end of season break on July 4.
It is the last match on Celtic’s third Down Under adventure following games against Central Coast Mariners (July 2) and Perth Glory (July 9).
For Victory, the clash will mark the debuts of new recruits Jean Carlos Solorzano and Marco Rojas.
Celtic is expected to field a full-strength side including Freddie Ljungberg (Sweden), Scott Brown (Scotland), Georgios Samaras (Greece), Anthony Stokes (Ireland), Ki Sung-Yueng (South Korea) and Andreas Hinkel (Germany).
