FIRST of all I’d like to wish everyone a happy new year!

Now that the January transfer market has opened up we can now officially start approaching overseas players.

As Ian Ferguson hasn’t had much luck in the current market (A-League, State League’s etc.) January is going to be a very critical time in terms of recruitment. So I thought I’d draw up a list of homegrown players I’d like us to sign (players we’d realistically have a shot at getting).

Starting off with goalkeepers, Paul Henderson has been linked with us for quite a while now. The Leicester number two has been in England for over four years now and assuming we made him the right offer could jump at the chance to come back to Australia. Another option would be Mark Bosnich, the former Chelsea and Manchester United goalkeeper has been training with Sydney for the past month and a half now which would mean he would join us already reasonably fit.

Our defence is looking our strong point right now and Chris Coyne would certainly make up for the loss of Jade North who has left for Korea. Coyne has also been linked with Gold Coast United, but with them already signing Adam Griffiths and believed to be close to signing Thwaite I’m sure we could offer him more money.

Scott Chipperfield could be signed to fill the left-back position but if we’re able to sign Shane Stefanutto we could always move Scott up to a left-wing position. Fulham boss Roy Hodgson recently said he may send Adrian Leijer on loan after failing to crack the first team, it’s unlikely he’d come back to Australia and if he did Melbourne would be his most likely destination but it’d be worth a shot.

Now to our midfield, a possibility is 30-year-old Jacob Burns who currently plays for an un-pronounceable Romanian club, although certainly not as marquee like it has been suggested. Kasey Wehrman, who plays in the Norwegian Premier League and has been on the radar of a few A-League clubs is another option.

Being born in Mt Isa should give us the edge over other clubs, he could be a top class signing. Mile Sterjovski would probably throw away any offers from the A-League that did not offer him marquee position so only if the Scott Chipperfield deal fell through would we have any chance of signing him.

Finally to strikers, David Williams would have been one of my top choices, but seeing as he recently signed a contract extension he can be ruled out. Danny Invincible is my other top choice and with the right service the Kilmarnock forward would be great in the A-League.

Former Queensland Roar striker Michael Baird would be another good option and Ferguson would not have to break the bank to sign him. The 25-year-old has been playing regularly in Romania, but I wouldn’t rule him out of a return to the A-League.

Obviously we’re not going to sign all of them, in fact we’re unlikely to even sign half of them, but if we don’t sign a few of them or any random quality players for that matter then we can say ‘goodbye’ to top four chances and ‘hello’ to a fight to avoid the wooden spoon.

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