Thomas Deng could feature against Western Sydney on Friday night, Head Coach Kevin Muscat has revealed.
Deng, whose last game for Victory was against Newcastle Jets on December 29, has been away with Australia at the AFC U-23 Championships in China.
The Australian U-23 side was knocked out of the tournament following a 3-2 loss to South Korea on Wednesday night.
“We’ve arranged for Thomas to fly straight to Sydney so he’ll arrive there tomorrow [Friday] morning,” Muscat said.
“We’ll assess him, the fact that he played last night and has overnight travel isn’t ideal because it’s not the best preparation but we’ll give him every opportunity.
“It’ll be good to have him around the group anyway.”
.@thomasdeng24 could be back in as soon as tomorrow night ? #WSWvMVC #MVFC pic.twitter.com/nVNCBluuxF
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) January 18, 2018
Deng’s return comes at a good time for Victory after Dino Djulbic’s short-term injury replacement deal ended following the Round 16 match against Perth Glory.
Muscat confirmed that Djulbic has left the club.
“Dino did exceptionally well for us in a time where we needed some reinforcements, but he moves on and hopefully we helped him out.
“People can see that he’s played three games in a week and done very, very well for us.”
In other team news, Rhys Williams returns from suspension and Terry Antonis looks set to come into the starting XI.
