LUKE Brattan’s dream move to Manchester City seemed a step closer as Brisbane Roar further moved on from the saga surrounding his departure by luring former Spain under-21 international Corona to the club.
Having been selected in another Socceroos squad, Brattan left for the UK on Wednesday despite the Roar still fighting for a fee for his services after he was granted a free transfer for late superannuation payment.
The Courier-Mail reported on Monday about speculation Brattan had secured a move to Manchester City — parent club of the Roar’s A-League rivals Melbourne City — and that the English Premier League giants would immediately loan out the midfielder.
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The whispers grew of the louder on Wednesday, with Brattan not shying away from the matter when asked.
“I’ll meet up with my agent (Ritchie Hinton) when I get to England and he’ll go over some things with me,” the 25-year-old said.
“City is a massive club and this will be a once in a lifetime chance.”
Where Manchester City would loan Brattan remains unknown. A move to Melbourne City seems out of the question as the Melbourne club’s roster is full and Brattan has repeatedly said he would not play for another A-League club.
However, it’s likely that the Melbourne club recommended to Manchester City to sign Brattan and take advantage of his desire to leave the A-League.
Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, who picked Brattan and Roar skipper Matt McKay in the Australian squad to meet Jordan next month — warned that Brattan — who hasn’t played a match since August 11 — needed to be playing regularly to be in future national team selection contention.
Corona is set to join George Lambadaridis in Roar’s midfield. Picture: Jono Searle.
Source:News Corp Australia
“We’ve taken a bit of a risk to select him in this squad but we just felt after the last camp he did quite well and we want to have another look at him,” Postecoglou said.
“Subsequent to this camp, obviously, wherever he does move to, he’s going to have to be playing regular football.”
With Brattan gone, the Roar have moved quickly to bolster their midfield depth.
Hot on the heels of signing George Lambadaridis on a short-term deal, the Roar are on the verge of signing 34-year-old Corona, who had a medical in Spain on Tuesday.
Corona, whose full name is Miguel Angel Garcia Perez-Roldan, has played for Spanish outfit Almeria since 2006, having made 300 appearances in all competitions for the club.
Almeria are currently in the Spanish second division after spending six of the previous nine seasons in the top-flight.