No offer tabled for Archie

Melbourne Victory officials today confirmed that no official approach for Archie Thompson had yet been received from Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven, either for a loan or a transfer.

Keen to keep the team’s focus entirely on the remaining five games of the Hyundai A-League season, coach Ernie Merrick would not speculate about a possible post-season move for his star striker.

“Our priority is performing well in the next five matches to give ourselves a chance of competing in the A-League finals,” Merrick said.

“There are four teams within four points of each other, so it should make for an enthralling climax to the A-League season.”

“Our next priority is ensuring Archie Thompson has every possible opportunity of representing Australia in the World Cup Finals in June,” Merrick said.

“We’ve been very co-operative in releasing Archie when requested for the national team, and we will continue to do so for the benefit of the Socceroos.”

Victory Football Director, Gary Cole, reinforced the club’s position, saying that any comment at this stage would be purely speculation.

“Without a firm offer on the table we’d only be guessing what PSV’s objectives are, and it’s just not prudent to speculate on hypotheticals at this early stage,” Cole said.

Meanwhile, Qantas Socceroo Archie Thompson was reacquainted with an old friend and a potential World Cup foe when Australian-born Croatian goalkeeper Joey Didulica appeared at Melbourne Victory training this morning.

With Australia drawn to face Brazil, Japan and Croatia in the group stages of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals, Archie and Joey could potentially face off for bragging rights come June 22nd.

“It was great to see Joey here at training this morning,” Archie said.

“It will be even better to see him on the pitch in Germany, where hopefully I can put a few past him.”