Western Sydney Wanderers have been urged to have a “really strong think this off-season” to decide their next move with star forward Nicolas Milanovic.
Milanovic is in career-best form as the Isuzu UTE A-League Golden Boot hopeful spearheads Western Sydney’s Championship pursuit amid their best run of form in a decade.
After nine goals in a breakout 2023-24 campaign, the 23-year-old has scored a career-high 12 goals and six assists to lead the Wanderers up to fourth in the standings amid a 10-match unbeaten streak.
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It comes after Milanovic turned down overseas interest at the end of last season to re-sign with Western Sydney. Now, the Wanderers have a decision to make on a player worth “millions”.
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On this week’s episode of Total A-Leagues, host and Sydney Morning Herald reporter Rugari said: “Milanovic, unbelievable.
“Like you mentioned, 12 goals and six assists and the interesting question for the club at the moment is, what they do with him? Particularly this league is moving towards being a very heavy export competition in terms of player sales and transfer fees.
“He’s contracted for next season, which means they have to have a really strong think this off-season about do we sell him, particularly when he’s at his highest sort of value, because they don’t want to lose him for free.
“And unlike we’ve talked about Adrian Segecic and what Sydney FC might get if he did go, yeah, they won’t get training compensation if he goes overseas, Milanovic, because he’s too old.
“It’s sort of, can you convince him to re sign or get rid of it, or do you get rid of him in this off-season, even though you don’t want to? But to know that you could get, I mean, how much do you think you could get for a Milanovic?”
Retired Socceroo and former A-Leagues star Tommy Oar replied: “In the current market, I think if you look at some of the other fees that players have gone for around the league, I think you’re talking millions because I honestly rate him so highly.
“I put his ceiling very high. I think the thing that separates him from a lot of other players that break through and promising players, is how clinical he is. He rarely needs two opportunities to score a goal, and I think that he’s left foot, the way he attacks the players, he’s so positive.
“Even when the Wanderers necessarily haven’t played their best, you can always rely on him to produce individual moments or create a spark. I think it’s also you have to weigh up if they decide, they want to sell him that, what kind of hole does that leave in your squad?
“It’s not easy to replace someone like him. I think, especially domestically, I don’t think there’s been many, if any, players in the last two seasons in the A League have the impact that he has, especially on a consistent basis.
“I think if the Wanderers have aspirations to go on to win silverware medium to long term, I think these are the kind of players you want to keep a hold of.”
Milanovic has established himself in the Subway Socceroos conversation thanks to his consistent run of form with the Wanderers as the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup looms.
He is just one goal shy of the Golden Boot lead and just two short for the record of most goal contributions this season, behind Macarthur Bulls’ Marin Jakolis (20).
Milanovic has scored the fifth most goals across the competition since last season, while he has managed the third most goal contributions (32) in that same timeframe.
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“The other thing that Milanovic himself will need to be thinking about as well is that we’re talking about a World Cup next year,” Rugari said. “I think we’d both probably have him in a current Socceroos squad at the moment.
“I think he’d fit really well in the Tony Popovic system with the inverted wingers. He’d be sensational there. He’s got to calculate, am I better off and my chances better if I stay in the A- League and absolutely dominate, lift another level next season?
“Or does he think the best way to convince Tony Popovic, which might be the best way, considering the way Popa has spoken about fitness and blokes in Europe and the physical aspect is, does he get over there and just sort of back himself to get to the level of wherever he goes to and put himself in the mix?”
Oar added: “I think that depending on what opportunities come up, and whether the club’s happy with the fee, and whether he’s happy with the personal terms and the opportunity that presents itself, I think that’ll go a long way to deciding what happens here.
“If the right offer in terms of club or league don’t come up, I think that he’ll be more than happy to stay at the Wanderers. He’s a fan favourite. He’s in a crucial part of that team.
“We’ve seen other players historically go to World Cups from the A-League and do really well. So I don’t think there’s too much to read into that, but I think that at the same time, this is definitely a watch this space situation.”
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