Former Melbourne Victory Youth players Thomas Deng and Joey Katebian could both be on the verge of European moves, with the former reportedly a target of PSV Eindhoven.
As reported, the 19 year-old is the target of interest from the Dutch giants, who last month secured their second successive Eredivisie title – their 33rd overall.
Deng enjoyed a breakout season for the Victory, making 12 league appearances as well as impressing in the FFA Cup and for the Olyroos during their failed Olympics qualification campaign.
If the Kenyan-born, Adelaide raised defender is to complete such a move, it would herald a remarkable rise for a player who three years ago was playing State League 3 North-West with the Western Eagles before moving to Green Gully in 2014 where he made 13 senior appearances.
He made a further 10 appearances for the Victory NPL side, which he captained to a successful NPL1 promotion-winning campaign last before featuring for the senior squad.
A sports management representative of Deng’s confirmed PSV’s interest in the Olyroo and said they are in the advanced stages of the negotiation process.
Meanwhile, Deng’s former Victory teammate Katebian is currently trailing with Serbian Superliga side Cukaricki, who finished the 2015-16 season in third place behind Champions and former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade and second-placed Partizan.
Their third place finish was the highest in the club’s history, with the small Belgrade-based club set to take part in the Europa League qualifiers beginning next month.
The 20-year-old former Bulleen Lions marksman joined the club in pre-season training in Austria, with their manager Milan Lesnjak expressing his desire to find a replacement forward for the departing Serbian international Andrija Pavlovic, who joined Danish powerhouse Copenhagen.
Cukaricki is the former home of Manchester City and Serbia left-back Aleksandar Kolarov and current Sydney FC midfielder Milos Ninkovic.
TCF understands that Katebian’s agent Vince Grella has also secured his client trials with clubs in the Belgian and Hungarian top tier.
The former Victory Youth captain made one senior league appearance in the A-League while scoring 43 goals in 41 outings for their NPL side, which saw him claim the 2015 NPL1 Golden Boot.