April 28, 2015 10:56:06 UK
Sydney FC chairman Scott Barlow says he’s not concerned by the fact that marquee striker Marc Janko has yet to sign a new deal with the club.
The Austria international was handed a new one-year deal, worth a reported $1.4million, a fortnight ago but has yet to make a decision about staying.
Janko’s 16 goals in his maiden A-League season have earned him the Golden Boot award and also attracted the interest of a number of European clubs.
Barlow says the Sky Blues are confident the 31-year-old will stay, and are keen to retain two other strikers – Bernie Ibini and Shane Smeltz – who are also off-contract at the end of the season.
The Sydney chairman said the club were having “regular conversations” with Janko, who missed the final game of the regular season against Wellington Phoenix at the weekend with a quad injury. Wellington.
He is expected to have recovered by the time the Sky Blues, who are 3.00 to win the Grand Final, play their home semi-final in a fortnight.
Talking of the ongoing negotiations with the striker, Barlow said: “It’s in a positive place at the moment. We’ve put forward an offer and these things take time and there’s always areas to be discussed, but we feel positive and are quietly confident about Marc being with us next season.”
If he does stay with Sydney he is likely to miss several games on international duty, as Austria are homing in on qualification to Euro 2016. The A-League does not break for FIFA international windows.
Ibini and Smeltz, who both scored in Sydney’s 2-1 win against the Phoenix, who are 8.00 to win the Grand Final, could both leave at the end of the campaign.
Ibini is on loan from Chinese Super League club Shanghai Dongya, but Barlow said Sydney had been in contact with the club and hope to have a resolution soon.
“You can’t put a deadline on those things,” Barlow said. “We’d love to keep him. He’s been in fine form of late and scored a great goal last night and is a player who will continue to get better.
“He’s still contracted to his club in China so we’ll progress those conversations and we’re confident he’ll be at Sydney going forward.”
Smeltz has been offered a new contract with the Sky Blues but would earn more money by taking up an offer to move to Malaysia.
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