Sydney's Segecic expected to head overseas: coach
After missing out on the A-League Men finals, Sydney FC coach Ufuk Talay is set to remain at his post and hopes young gun Adrian Segecic will be with the Sky Blues after this season too.
But he concedes a move overseas could well be the move his breakout star has to make.
Sydney's season ended in demoralising fashion with a 5-1 loss to second-placed Melbourne City, meaning Adelaide United claimed sixth place ahead of them.
The Sky Blues only needed a point from their last two games to make finals.
Their seventh-placed finish follows a semi-final exit from the Asian Champions League Two.
"I'm sure they're quite down at the end of the day," said Talay.
"But look, life goes on.
"People get buried, people mourn for a week and then people have to get on with their lives and that's something that we need to do as well."
Sydney are yet to officially confirm off-contract Talay will continue.
But he has reportedly committed on a two-year deal and "definitely" intends to stay put.
"It's not 100 per cent confirmed," he said.
"... We'll review the whole season. We'll review the Champions League as well, where we did well and where we didn't do so well.
"It's one of those things where you review the season and we'll make decisions with players that are currently coming off contract and players that are contracted."
Segecic, 20, has been a revelation with 18 goals in all competitions.
"Look, we definitely want to keep Adrian," Talay said.
"But the season that he's had and what he's produced this year, I think for him personally, it's a great opportunity to have an opportunity to go overseas if that comes to fruition for him.
"And I believe that he will definitely take that opportunity if it does show itself.
"But at the end of the day, I think if he's going to stay in our competition, he'll definitely like to stay with us."
Talay noted Sydney conceded too many goals this season and hopes central defender Alex Grant, who missed the City game through injury, will stay on.
"We need an experienced central defender next season definitely and those discussions are happening with Alex at the moment," Talay said.
Talay believed young centre-back Alexandar Popovic would learn from a disastrous night against City, where he was beaten for three goals.
He noted a "challenging" season had been about transition and bringing through younger players.
"We all understand in Australia the landscape of Australia and where we fit in the landscape of world football as well," he said.
"We're trying to produce our own players from our academy and I think the club has been quite successful in that manner and we continue to want to do that.
"And at the same time, we want to provide opportunities where we can sell players overseas and make everything sustainable as well."
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