Image: Drazen Jurina
The Moreland Zebras have confirmed the signing of forward Amir Osmancevic in addition to five other new arrivals and three key re-signings ahead of the upcoming 2017 NPL2 season.
21 year-old Osmancevic moves to CB Smith Reserve after a breakout 2016 where the young striker netted 15 goals in 23 league appearances for Dandenong Thunder and Dandenong City respectively.
After making his senior debut with then-State League One outfit Doveton, Osmancevic returned to his root by spending a year in the Balkans where he featured in the Serbian second tier with Sloga Kraljevo as well as spending time in Croatia with NK Zagreb.
A return back to Melbourne followed in 2015, with Osmancevic featuring for local State League Two side Peninsula Strikers, having narrowly missed out on joining the Dandenong Thunder following the close of the NPL transfer window.
His move to George Andrews Reserve finally materialised last off-season, as he joined the Thunder and made an exceptional start to life at the club by netting 8 goals in his first four games.
A mid-season departure to cross-town rivals Dandenong City followed as Osmancevic scored another five times in 11 league matches as Hajduk finished third in the NPL2 East standings.
Two of those five goals came in a rampant performance against his new employers as Osmancevic’s brace helped City to a 3-0 home win over the Zebras in Round 18.
The addition of the frontman is a huge boost for the Zebras, who have lost the likes of Baggio Yousif (Northcote City) and Rinor Muriqi (Dandenong Thunder) this transfer window, as well as midfielder Brad Murray (Werribee City).
Joining Osmancevic at the Zebras is Frenchmen Wali Elqioin, who makes the move interstate having featured for Adelaide City in 2015.
The playmaker has experience playing football in the lower French leagues with Parisian-based sides ACBB and ES Colembienne and tasted league success with the Zebras of Adelaide this year, as Damian Mori’s side claimed the 2016 NPL Championship in South Australia.
Teenagers Javier Marangos and Kaspar Scheiber have followed new coach Fausto de Amicis to Moreland, with the four-time NSL Champion previously coaching the pair at Richmond where he was assistant to Rick Mensink.
Marangos enjoyed a stellar 2016 having broken through into the senior side and in total made 16 league appearances while Scheiber made his senior breakthrough last year and featured three times in the league for Alemannia over the course of the past 18 months.
Also reunited at their new employers are former Bulleen Lions 20s players Gai Ayuei Gai who is a promising young defender and speedy forward Regsan Watkins.
Re-joining the former NSL side in 2017 will be Slovenian midfielder Nejc Kolman who experienced an injury-interrupted 2016, Club Best and Fairest winner and full-back Daniel Petrov, as well as attacking midfielder Joshua McMonagle-Ilhasz.