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Liverpool are heading to Australia over the summer to take on the Melbourne Victory in pre-season action. Meanwhile, for the past few months the English club have been linked heavily to young Melbourne winger Marco Rojas (pictured above being beaten with a corner flag), the most talked about prospect in the A-League. And now, Rojas has revealed that he has secured a move to somewhere in Europe.
"When I get back I'll speak to my dad and we'll sort that out and I'm sure there will be some news coming out soon,'' Rojas said following Melbourne's A-League semi-final defeat at the hands of the Central Coast Mariners. "It's every footballer's dream to play in Europe and I'm over the moon to be able to say I'm about to live that dream very soon."
Putting two and two together leads to Liverpool being by far the likeliest destination for Rojas, and it remains possible the Victory were chosen for the club's Australia friendly in part compensation. However, when links between Rojas and Liverpool first popped un in January, there were also reports Juventus were tracking the player—and since then the winger has also been linked to a handful of German sides.
If he is heading to Liverpool, though—and if his destination manages to remain a secret for long enough—it would at least set up the chance for a PR stunt of a halftime switch when Liverpool take on Melbourne in July. His current manager, meanwhile, served further confirmation that the player was indeed set to change hemispheres.
"We wish Marco all the best as he continues on his very impressive football journey," said Victory manager Ange Postecoglou. "While we would have loved to have seen him stay here at Melbourne Victory for a little longer, we knew we couldn't stand in the way of his European ambitions."
The young winger, who turned 21 in November and began his career with Wellington Phoenix, scored 15 times and set up nine more in 27 league appearances for the Melbourne Victory on the way to being named the A-League's player of the season this year after a rather less impressive debut campaign that saw him without a single marker in 24 appearances.
Despite impressing in Australia, most consider Rojas a longshot to make it in Europe. However, with the player out of contract, whichever European side he ends up with will only have to pay a compensation fee in the high five or low six figures to secure his services, making for a cheap gamble on the hottest prospect in the region.