Melbourne Heart coach John Aloisi is close to signing an injury replacement for marquee player Orlando Engelaar, revealing that the club is waiting on the signature of Andrea Migliorini.
The 25 year old Italian midfielder is set to ink a short term deal in order to cover for Dutchman Orlando Engelaar, who broke his femur against Brisbane Roar last month in a pre-season friendly.
Migliorini has been on trial at Heart and played an hour of the friendly against Perth Glory last Saturday, impressing Aloisi before being substituted.
“Andrea played 60 minutes over in Perth, just jumping off the plane two days beforehand and he performed really well,” Aloisi said.
The Udinese youth product has experience playing in Serie B with newly promoted side A.S Livorno and his new coach believes he will perform well in the A-League.
“He’s a good talented player that’s played Serie B in Italy and he grew up at Udinese, so he’s got good schooling and I think he’ll do well in the A-League,” Aloisi said.
Migliorini will likely fill in while Engelaar, 34, continues his long recovery from a broken leg.
“Of course it’s unlucky what happened to Orlando but we move on and I’m quite happy with the strength of the squad at the moment,” Aloisi said.
Migliorini’s addition is likely to be announced over the next few days.