Melbourne Victory today announced that former Scottish youth international midfielder, Grant Brebner, has been signed from Scottish Premier League side Dundee United for the upcoming Hyundai A-League season.

Brebner, a former team mate of David Beckham at Manchester United, recently impressed Victory during their QNI North Queensland Trophy success last month.

Football Operations Manager, Gary Cole, believes Brebner will prove to be an important signing for Melbourne in their quest to mount a championship bid this season.

“Grant’s a really nice bloke, but more importantly he’s a good footballer with great pedigree,” Cole said.

“He developed at Manchester United for five years before moving on to Reading. From there he spent five years at Hibernian and he most recently spent a couple of seasons at Dundee United.

“Not only does he score goals – which he showed in his trial for us in Queensland – he’s also a tremendous on-field leader, which is something we were really keen to bring to the squad this season.”

Victory had remained quiet about the progress of negotiations with Brebner out of the player’s respect for his mother.

Speaking from Scotland overnight, Brebner confirmed that he had requested the deal not be announced until he had the opportunity to tell his mum in person.

“Of course she knew I was coming over to Australia for a trial, so she’d virtually prepared herself for the inevitable,” Brebner said. “I could have picked up the phone to let her know, but I think your mum deserves better than that.

“Mum’s only missed about five games in my entire career, so I’ll have to send her all my Victory games back home on DVD and find an internet stream so she can listen to the games live.”

As far as the football is concerned, Brebner was full of enthusiasm for his move to the Hyundai A-League.

“It’s very exciting to start a new chapter in my career,” Brebner said. “Even considering the traveling involved it was quite an easy decision to make. Melbourne is an ambitious club and with all the new signings this season we are a real chance to win something.

“The league is going from strength to strength and it’s great to be part of it.”

Brebner revealed one of the key factors in his decision was the set up at Melbourne, some of which was on display during the recent trip to Queensland.

“The set up at Melbourne is fantastic. They’re so thorough in everything they do; from the physios to individual training programs and sports science. I’ve not been able to keep quiet about it since I returned to Scotland.”

Club CEO Geoff Miles said that Brebner’s signing helped boost an already impressive squad.

“We are confident that Grant will be an excellent addition to our list to complement our other signings for this season, Brazilians Claudinho and Fred and Adrian Caceres from Perth Glory,” Miles said.

Brebner arrives back in Melbourne on Friday night and will miss Wednesday night’s pre-season friendly against Oakleigh Cannons, who are currently run-away leaders of the Victorian Premier League.

Also missing for Victory will be impressive defender Daniel Piorkowski, who underwent a knee operation on Thursday night and is expected to miss 4-5 weeks.

Victory regains the services of its captain, Kevin Muscat, who returned last week from the World Cup in terrific shape.

“All credit to Kevin, who was true to his word and worked very hard on his fitness while he was at the World Cup,” Cole said. “His commitment really is an example to the younger players in the squad, and we look forward to Kevin re-joining our pre-season and getting some match time under his belt.”



Grant Brebner Factfile:

Name: Grant Brebner
Age: 28 years
Nationality: Scottish
Weight: 76kg
Height: 178cm
Position: Midfield
Previous Clubs: Manchester United, Cambridge (Loan), Reading, Hibernian, Stockport (Loan), Dundee United

Woo! Any signing is a good one for the Victory

victory is going to be an interesting outfit this season..cannot wait for the start of the a-league

I actually think Victory might actually be contenders for next season lol.

I cant wait to actually see these brazillians play.

All teams seem to be doing really well this off-season, Melbourne espcially.

cant say i'm surprised

...hopefully a good siging, atleast for a few seasons

he looked good, and he played for Man utd. so he must be good, i dnno, i think we r alrite, we have depth now... its gnna be good!!! roll on a-league

watched a lot of Brebner in the last 3 or 4 seasons in the SPL. Not a bad player, hard working bok to box midfielder who will chip in with a few goals but is more about breaking up opposition attacks and starting moves from deep

hope he does well

Cheers for the info v_ster

Looks to be a really good signnig. Can't wait to see him in action.

JLW, that's a great sig there

^^ I agree

Bloody wanker.

fantastic signing, victory are gonna be huge title contenders next season

Brebners a very good player, you signed him from us. He'll work all day for you, tackles well and is more than capable of scoring a few. Has a few off-field issues, including a gambling addiction, but a change of lifestyle might do him good. Sad to see him leave...our loss is your gain

Well I'm sure Melbourne's Crown casino will be happy with the Victory's latest recruit.