IT MAY not feel at all long ago that Jess Vanstrattan was announced as the inaugural Gold Coast United squad member, but already the job of building a team is quite close to completion.

The club has 15 confirmed signings, plus 2 players almost certain to be added to that list come January 1 in Victory defender Michael Thwaite and Hartlepool forward Joel Porter. As such, it has just about reached time when we can consider not who in any far flung corner of the globe the club has been linked to, but rather who are the best options for the limited remaining spots.

With six signings to be made, at least half of them should be top quality pick-ups. One will be a marquee signing (most likely a returning Socceroo such as Jason Culina, Scott Chipperfield or Mile Sterjovski). Another will presumably be a youth marquee player (either returning from overseas or poached from an opposition A-League side). One more foreign player position is available also (Dutch full-back Bas Van den Brink is hotly tipped to fill this slots). The remaining three contracts will presumably depend on what is left in the salary cap, but there is every chance that one or two will be returning overseas Aussies.

If we play some paper football, as Miron Bleiberg has probably been doing for the last few months, we can see just how GC Utd might line up come round 1 of the 2009/2010 season. A 4-3-3 formation is becoming almost as ubiquitous in Australian and world football as the old faithful 4-4-2 (perhaps in five years time a name change for this website will be required). It’s likely Bleiberg’s desire for all things attacking will see him continue the trend.

A strong three-man forward line is almost complete. Smeltz or new signing Milson playing centrally with Porter as one of the wide forwards can cause havoc against any current defensive unit in the league. The other wide forward is less obvious.

Jefferson comes as an unknown quantity and may be capable of playing this position. Young Andrew Barisic too could be an option. But for me, this position is one yet to be filled.

The likes of Mile Sterjovski or Scott Chipperfield would be ideal options if they were to be made the marquee man. A youth marquee player gives even more options. If someone like Dario Vidosic or David Williams could be brought home, they’d be a fantastic option. Poaching the unsettled Tahj Minniecon or even using the role to steal a celebrated NYL player (Jesic and Gan come to mind) would also suffice, should the league allow it.

Midfield is where most people identify a main weakness of GC Utd. The current signings are, in many people’s eyes, at best unproven and at worst incapable at HAL level (I personally hold high hopes that Caravella, Robson and Brown would form a more than capable midfield trio but none have proven themselves to Australian fans to date).

Since I’ve already spent my youth marquee spot on a wide forward, the obvious fix for the midfield is a marquee man like Jason Culina. I’ve raved in the past of the impact he could have for the club, and his name alone in a midfield trio would make it one of the best in the business.

Add a hard-nosed, tough-tackling defensive midfielder (perhaps Steve Pantelidis will be more useful than some critics think; Adam Griffiths is another option) and one of the 3 already signed players mentioned above, and the midfield looks undeniably strong.

The back 4 is the hardest to judge in this mysterious game of theoretical football. Thwaite and Adam Griffiths should provide solid cover for Vanstrattan, plus Van den Brink will hopefully prove a handy full-back (he’ll surely do better than any locally based Australian who’s tried to play the position).

Someone like Shane Stefanutto or Shane Cansdell-Sherriff could play left-back and complete the unit. But there’s no way to tell how they will gel. I’d like to see another solid central defensive option supplied. It might not be Chris Coyne or Craig Moore, but even an Angelo Costanzo or Michael Valkanis would do.

One-time Glory and Farina-roos player Adrian Madaschi is another option. An alternative solid centre-half would also give more freedom to push Griffiths to full-back or defensive midfield, where he can be even more effective.

So to complete my paper squad, I’d like Porter and Thwaite joined by Jason Culina, Bas Van den Brink, David Williams, Angelo Costanzo, Shane Stefanutto and a young local goalkeeper (19 year old Jerrad Tyson is the tip). That would leave a first XI looking something like this:

------------------------Vanstratten
Van den Brink------Thwaite-----Costanzo------Stefanutto
----------------Griffiths-----------------Robson----------------
------------------------------Culina------------------------------
Porter--------------------------------------------------Williams
------------------------------Smeltz-------------------------------

(Subs) Higgins, Pantelidis, Brown, Milson

(Reserves) Barisic, Caravella, Fitzsimmons, Jefferson, Osman, Piorkowski, Rees, Tyson

Of course, some of these players haven’t even been linked to the club, and others might not sign or might not be able to be signed given the salary cap restrictions.

But it’s a challenge for anyone to suggest an entirely plausible team as given above is not as formidable a line-up as has ever been seen in the A-League.

At least there’s no James Robinson!