Victory are one of the early favourites to win a third A-League title after a sensational few months in the transfer market.

Kewell’s arrival has made all the headlines after his rockstar touchdown at Melbourne Airport last month, and keeper Ante Covic’s signing this week for the injured Tando Velaphi provides much-needed experience and class at the back.

An array of new attacking options including former Fury favourite Isaka Cernak, New Zealand’s most exciting new talent Marco Rojas and Brisbane Roar’s Jean Carlos Solorzano add to the existing star power of Archie Thompson and Carlos Hernandez for what appears to be the strongest squad in Victory’s six year history. 

The new arrivals have raised expectations and interest, as seen by Thursday’s “Victory in Business” function where almost 1000 people attended the event at Etihad Stadium – the venue for Saturday night’s season opening blockbuster against Brett Emerton’s Sydney FC.

Around 40,000 are tipped to turn up for Saturday’s clash and with the newspapers in Melbourne in overdrive producing Kewell signed posters and media coverage at an all-time high, the expectations are massive.

However speaking at the launch of the new A-League season, 25-year-old Leijer sees a strengthening across the league – not just at Victory.

And Victory’s central defender predicted this will be reflected in the tightest competition in history as the ten clubs battle for one of the six finals spot.

“I think this will be the closest league ever.  You look at every fixture and you think, ‘well, that’s a tough fixture’,” he told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“Every game will be difficult but it will be the teams that can get on a run that will end up in the finals and hopefully that’s Melbourne Victory.

“It’s the hardest league to pick… which is a good thing for the fans.”

Leijer took over the captain’s armband from Kevin Muscat, but despite the age difference, Leijer said captaining Kewell has been made easy by the former Liverpool and Galatasaray star’s professionalism.

Harry was just one of the boys out on the park, said Leijer.

“I’m not going to go out there and tell Harry what to do," he said. "I think Harry’s got enough experience and is a natural leader and if anything it’s probably made my job a lot easier.

“Harry’s the same as anyone else. During the game he says, ‘Tell me if I’m out of position, tell me if I need to do this or that’ and that’s great.

“I wouldn’t say I’d give him a bollocking - it’s Harry Kewell. I respect him a lot and as footballers on the pitch we talk and if things go wrong, they go wrong … what goes on, on the field stays on the field.

“But with Harry, for a player like that, I suppose you do take a little bit of an exception but what needs to be done will be done and we’ll see how we go.”

In other news, Victory playmaker Carlos Hernandez will miss Saturday night’s game due to international duty with Costa Rica.