Photo: Mark Avellino
Hume City have acquired the services of midfielders James McGarry and Ersin Kaya for the 2017 NPL campaign with the duo departing the Melbourne Knights and Bulleen Lions respectively.
28-year-old McGarry is set to team up with former Bentleigh teammate and fellow new signing Wayne Wallace at ABD Stadium after the English midfield pairing featured for the Greens in 2011.
From there onwards, the hard-working midfielder moved to the Bulleen Lions, spending two years at David Barro Stadium in State League One.
In mid-2013 McGarry moved to Knights Stadium and spent two-and-a-half season with the two-time NSL Champions, making 67 league appearances in total under Andrew Marth and netting 11 goals.
2016 proved to be a standout year for the central midfielder who became the focal point of the Knights midfield following the early-season injury to Ben Surey and finished the campaign as the club’s joint-top goalscorer alongside vice-captain Stipo Andrijasevic with six goals.
Hume Manager Dean Hennessey spoke of his delight in capturing the experienced Englishman and said “James has a great presence on the pitch and is a great passer of the ball and wants to be involved in everything”, via club press release.
23-year-old Kaya returns Hume City having initially featured for the club in 2013 under Lou Acevski, making 20 appearances for Anadoluspor after initially making his senior debut with the club in 2010.
A versatile wide player also comfortable at playing full-back, he featured for the Moreland Zebras in their 2012 VPL campaign under Joe Palatsides before featuring for the Melbourne Heart Youth Team.
He made a total of one appearance for the senior side in a 3-2 defeat away to the Wellington Phoenix in December 2012 and spent 2014 on the books of Northcote City and Werribee City respectively.
Kaya returned to Melbourne this year after a spell in the Turkish third tier with Bayrampaşaspor, joining Bulleen where he scored two goals in 13 league appearance under Dominic Barba.
He and McGarry join Atilla Ofli and Wayne Wallace as the club’s signing for next season following the departures of 2016 squad members Chris Oldfield, Shane Rexhepi, Craig Carley, Joe Franjic and Kym Harris.