Phoenix write off chances of Reid move

Wellington Phoenix have shot down the prospect of signing All Whites captain Winston Reid following his West Ham exit and will instead look within the club’s academy ranks to finalise their A-League squad.

Despite highlighting the difficulties of signing foreign players during the Covid-19 pandemic and wanting to add another centre-back, men’s team coach Ufuk Talay said Reid was not a player of interest.

Reid has left West Ham by mutual consent after 11 years at the Premier League club and is a free agent.

He had not played for West Ham since suffering a serious knee injury in 2018, but recently captained the OlyWhites at the Tokyo Olympics following loan spells at Kansas City and Brentford.

Reid would have to take a massive pay cut if he was to sign with any club in the A-League as the 33-yearold defender was on a lucrative longterm deal with West Ham with a reported $135,000 per week.

A move down under could also jeopardise his availability for the World Cup qualifiers, which are scheduled to be staged in Qatar in March, if the tournament is not played during an official Fifa window.

The Phoenix have 18 players on board for the upcoming season but Talay indicated he wanted five more to complete his playing roster before they embark on another lengthy stint in Australia, including a ‘‘young’’ centre-back to provide injury cover behind captain Steven Taylor, Tim Payne and Joshua Laws.

He said the final five spots would likely be filled by players from the club’s reserve team.

‘‘I’m looking to take 22-23 players to New South Wales,’’ Talay said.

‘‘We’ve got a few of the academy boys training with us as well to give them opportunity, and that’s one thing our club does; is try to promote from within and give these players opportunities to play.

‘‘We know where we sit on the football landscape. We’re not Barcelona or Real Madrid where we buy all the best players in the world, so we like to promote from within and give players opportunities.

‘‘If we sign a player and a player has gone overseas then we have done well as a club.’’

Of their reserve team players, forward George Ott, midfielder Louis Toomey, and defender Kurtis Mogg would be the leading contenders to make the step up in their respective areas of the pitch.

With two import spots up for grabs, Talay said a lot of prospective players had been offered to the club in recent weeks, but the Phoenix had not been able to ‘‘pull the trigger’’ and sign any of them because of the current border restrictions in New Zealand and Australia.

He said it was looking increasingly likely that the Phoenix would not be in a position to sign another import until January.

The Phoenix confirmed this week they would be based in NSW for at least the first six games of the new season, starting with a juicy clash against former captain Ulises Davila’s Macarthur on December 3.

Although a return to Wollongong, where they were stationed last season, remained a possibility, Talay said the facilities at the University of Wollongong were not up to scratch and urged club officials to look for a new base.

Once they have finalised a location, Talay said the Phoenix planned to fly to Sydney in late October but were investigating how they could travel without having to endure another two-week quarantine.

He said every player in the Phoenix squad had received at least their first dose of the vaccine.

‘‘This team and this club have done [quarantining] enough times that we don’t want to really do it again.’’