Mariners, Bosnich to ramp up talks
Sebastian Hassett
August 7, 2008
THE Central Coast Mariners will open talks with Mark Bosnich's agent in the coming week about converting the former Socceroos goalkeeper's trial into a short-term deal with the Gosford club.
Bosnich's impressive return has surprised even the most optimistic of his supporters, with his sensational performance in Central Coast's 3-0 Pre-Season Cup win over Sydney FC - followed by a strong showing in the 2-1 win over Queensland at the weekend - proving he hasn't lost his remarkable talents.
While Bosnich's first likely appearance in the A-League will be later this month when the five-week suspension of first-choice keeper Danny Vukovic kicks in, a contract with the Mariners has not yet been forthcoming.
Central Coast coach Lawrie McKinna said signing Bosnich was high on his list of priorities. The Mariners may face competition from the Gold Coast if they don't sign Bosnich to a long-term deal, with the new franchise believed to be interested in the keeper.
"He did extremely well against Sydney and then played for half an hour against Queensland Roar and did very, very well again. He's training extremely hard, so he looked a bit tired today, but overall he's done everything," McKinna told the Herald yesterday.
"The club will be speaking to the agent very soon because we don't want to drag it out any longer than it needs to be. He's been training all this week, hopefully the club can speak to his agent later in the week, and one way or another it can be finalised."
McKinna said while the deal was still likely to be no more than a guest stint to cover Vukovic's absence, Bosnich's impact on the club continued to be overwhelmingly positive.
"It will be just a short-term deal for now because we think Danny's the best goalkeeper in Australia, and signing Mark as a marquee player to sit on the bench wouldn't make sense," McKinna said.
"I'm sure it will give the squad a boost just to have him in, even for a short time."
McKinna is set to dip into the transfer market for a replacement for midfielder Andre Gumprecht, who will miss up to four months after undergoing knee surgery yesterday.
"We're looking at signing a replacement player and we've just started talking about it," McKinna said. "We've looked at a few boys over pre-season and we might look at a few boys in the state league and then we'll see what else is available.
"But there's definitely the possibility of us looking to bring in another midfielder, as Greg Owens probably won't come back until mid-late September either."
The Mariners and Newcastle open the new A-League season in a grand final replay on August 15. "The overall preparation we've had is very good," McKinna said.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/a-league/mariners-bosnich-to-ramp-up-talks/2008/08/06/1217702143508.html
