Melbourne Victory recruit Scott Galloway, 17, could make his debut in the local derby on Saturday. Picture: Stephen Harman Source: Herald Sun
HE only signed 10 days ago and relies on lifts from teammates as he doesn't have a driver's licence - but baby-faced Scott Galloway could be handed a debut on the grandest of stages tomorrow night.
The 17-year-old full back impressed in Victory youth's 4-1 win over Melbourne Heart last week and coach Ange Postecoglou is considering starting him at right back in place of suspended Diogo Ferreira for the derby at Etihad Stadium.
Perth-raised Galloway is contending with Leigh Broxham and possibly Matt Foschini for the spot and Postecoglou will have the previous derby in mind when David Williams dominated Ferreira on the left wing.
Undermanned Heart is likely to recall midfielder Golgol Mebrahtu, although he's likely to start on the bench with Eli Babalj.
Heart hopes to make two signings before the transfer window closes on February 14 to offset its three big recent losses.
While striker Babalj returned from Red Star Belgrade last week, Aziz Behich (Bursaspor, Turkey), Vince Grella (retired) and Michael Marrone (Shanghai Shenxin) have all left.
Heart has enquired about uncontracted Socceroo left back David Carney and Newcastle captain Jobe Wheelhouse, who quit the Jets yesterday, but neither is signing, according to Heart football operations manager John Didulica.
"We haven't signed Jobe and we're unlikely to sign him. The termination has nothing to do with us at all," Didulica said.
"We enquired about him (Carney) but he hasn't played for a while, so we're not interested and I think he wants to remain overseas.
"In a perfect world we'd sign two, but I'd be more than happy to take one high quality recruit. We need a good midfield general then maybe a full back.
"Getting Eli back was a big win so another signing would offset the other losses."
While Victory's first XI has remained settled, marquee Marcos Flores said the new arrivals such as Galloway will play a key role.
"We're trying to make them adapt and adjust quick because we need 23 players for this championship, not just 11," Flores said.
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TOMORROW night's Etihad Stadium crowd is being tipped to eclipse the derby record.
This season's opening round clash attracted 42,032 at the same venue and Victory general manager of operations Trent Jacobs said the numbers were positive.
"Tickets sales as of Thursday indicate it's likely to be a 40-45,000 game," Jacobs said. "We are very hopeful of exceeding the derby record."
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VICTORY yesterday signed defender Nick Ansell to a three-year deal, while Leigh Broxham signed a three-year contract extension. Keeper Lawrence Thomas has agreed to a two-year deal.
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