Hume City have bolstered their attacking stocks for the 2015 NPL season with a host of shrewd acquisitions in the transfer market over the last month.
Headlining the off-season signings for Lupce Acevski’s side is 27-year-old Cameroonian striker Calvin Mbarga who comes to the club from South Australian NPL outfit Adelaide Blue Eagles.
The former Cameroonian youth international has spent the past four seasons in the South Australian capital where he has been one of the league’s top scorers after moving from Dubai in 2010, and Acevski was hopeful that the signing of Mbarga will give his side a much needed attacking edge
Former Brisbane Roar winger/striker Jai Ingham has also linked up with the club and is expected to trouble NPL defences with his pace, trickery and knack of scoring goals, which was on show in his spells at both Olympic FC (QLD) and the Brisbane Roar youth team.
Ingham 21, hails from Lismore in northern New South Wales and despite making his A-League debut for the Roar in January of this year, was not offered a contract at the conclusion of the season.
Joining Mbarga and Ingham in attack is fellow new signing Deng Aguek who joins the Broadmeadows-based club from the relegated Ballarat Red Devils.
Aguek struck five times in the league for the regional side despite joining up with the squad mid-season, but his goals – along with Paul Harvey’s eight – couldn’t keep the team afloat.
24-year-old midfield Ivan Pavlak is another reinforcement for the club with the former AIS and Sydney FC youth player signing up after spending 2014 at Sydney United.
Right-back Dean Tomeski has also linked up with Hume City and the versatile 23-year-old comes to the club with European experience, having spent the last few years playing in Macedonia.
Marcus Schroen was also announced as a Hume City player with the former Melbourne Heart/City youth team player signing on from Dandenong Thunder.
The attacking midfielder had his 2014 season hampered by a lengthy spell on the sidelines through injury and will be hoping the move to Broadmeadows Valley Park signals a return to his best form.
The final new signing confirmed by the club is youngster Josh Markovski who joins up with the side from South Melbourne’s NPL Under 20’s side.
17-year-old striker Markovski is the son of former Socceroo and Victorian football icon John who featured for a number of Melbourne clubs in the old NSL with Markovski junior keen to gain some first-team experience under Lou Acevski.
The additions of Mbarga, Ingham, Aguek, Pavlak, Tomeski, Schroen and Markovski will strengthen a squad boosted by the return of two key players from their 2014 squad.
Former Melbourne Victory defender Petar Franjic has returned to the club after a brief stint plying his trade in Uzbekistan while the club has been boosted by the news that captain Nick Hegarty is fit and raring to go in 2015 after spending the majority of the 2014 campaign sidelined with a knee injury.
The on-field acquisitions have been boosted upstairs with news that experienced coach Dean Hennessey has joined Hume City as the club’s new Technical Director after spending last season as the manager of Dandenong Thunder, where he was credited with his role in the emergence of several exciting youngsters, most notably Kieran Dover and Matt Millar.
All in all, City have assembled an exciting squad for the 2015 season with the quality additions, the re-signings of Hegarty and Franjic as well as the experienced presence upstairs leaves the club well positioned for a much improved performance come 2015.