Gary Cole’s weekend interview concerning Fred’s transfer has upset some at Victory as the champions come to grips with losing their brilliant Brazilian to MLS club DC United.

Melbourne Victory Communications Manager Tony Ising told told www.au.fourfourtwo.com last night it goes against club policy for Victory officials to comment publicly on details of transfers until such matters are signed off.

“We don’t comment on these sorts of things until they’ve been sorted out. That’s our policy and right now I’m not commenting any further.

“We expect by Wednesday to see the situation officially resolved either way,” added Ising.

Football Operations Manager Cole gave an interview from Asia to Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper on Saturday.

In it, he reportedly said of the Fred transfer: "The last contact we had was two days ago and they indicated they would not be accepting our offer.

“He wanted two or three times what he's being paid. And with the salary cap, we just can't do that and the league can't afford that right now.

"He hasn't gone because he's still contracted, but we probably have to accept the fact that he's not going to accept our offer."

Ising – one of the men behind the formation of the boom club - added it was “bizarre” that a letter (reproduced below) in the name of Fred’s agent Marcio Bittencourt was posted on the Victory fans’ forum explaining the imminent departure of his client.

Fred is believed to be in Brazil right now but should he, as expected, move to DC, he’ll hook up with fellow South American stars Argentine Christian Gomez, Bolivian Jaime Moreno and newly acquired Brazilian Luciano Emilio.


**Post from Melbourne Victory supporters’ forum…

Dear All Melbourne Victory supporters,

My name is Marcio, and I am Fred's agent.

The reason I have decided to write in this forum, is to firstly and most importantly thank and congratulate Melbourne Victory Football Club and all the fans for a wonderful year. Gary Cole and Ernie Merrick have been fantastic since the moment I met them and it has been a pleasure to work with them and the club.

Secondly, I want to explain Freds situation to you. One year ago, Ernie came to Brazil looking for players to sign to hopefully help Victory have a better second season. We started searching for players and 2 months later after much searching, Victory signed 3 players.

One year later, Melbourne Victory are the A-league champions after a fantastic season which they were much much better than all the other teams on the field and also of the field with crowds. I believe that Fred played an important part in this as well as all the other players.

Gary and Ernie have been very good in keeping in constant contact with me talking about renewing Freds contract. The problem has been that with Freds great year, many clubs have contacted him showing interest. These clubs would then contact me and make their offers. My job as Freds agent is to present these offers to Fred, and let him decide.

Fred up until a little while ago could not make up his mind. He and his wife love Australia and the people and thought about staying and maybe becoming citizens. He told me that if Victory could get close to the other offers, he would choose Victory.

I indicated to Gary Cole that the offer had to be higher and he worked hard to make the offer better, which he did, but unfortunately with A-league salary cap restrictions, they could not go higher. When an official proposal came finally from an American club and a Brazilian 1st division club, they were 2 to 3 times more than Victory.

Fred is 28 years old, and had to make a decision based on his future and his family's. It was too hard for him to refuse.

He asked me to send a message to the fans saying that this year was by far his most enjoyable in his career. Unfortunately he cannot refuse a long term lucrative deal that will give him financial independance in the end part of his career.

I hope you all understand. I hope you all remember Fred as a player who came to Melbourne and entertained the fans with his play and his fantastic character. Who knows if maybe we can repeat the success of Fred with another Brasilian in the next season or after.”

Warm Regards,

Marcio Bittencourt