Melbourne Victory is delighted to announce that youngster Connor Pain has signed his first professional contract, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season.
Melbourne Victory is delighted to announce that youngster Connor Pain has signed his first professional contract, keeping him at the club until at least the end of the 2014/15 Hyundai A-League season.
After a host of impressive performances in the National Youth League (NYL), Pain made his senior debut in Round 19 in the Melbourne Derby and has now formalised his arrangement with the club after initially only signing a NYL contract.
Melbourne Victory Coach Ange Postecoglou said the 19 year-old’s good form in the underage competition was impossible to ignore.
“Connor-s performances in the Youth Team had been consistently good and you have to reward young players when they-re performing like that,” Postecoglou said.
“He-s played five games now and scored an impressive goal against Western Sydney and probably could-ve had a couple more, so we see him as a player with plenty of upside.
“He-s still got a fair bit to learn but he-s doing all the right things and he-s a player we-ll look to really develop over the next couple of seasons,” Postecoglou added.
Pain said signing a professional contract was the realisation of a lifelong dream, “This time last year I was preparing for the start of the VPL season and now I-m a professional footballer – it-s been a bit of a whirlwind but I-m really excited,” he said.
“When I first joined the Youth team I set myself the goal of playing first team football, but I never thought it would happen so quickly.
“Everyone has made me feel really welcome since I-ve been at the club and I hope I can repay their faith in me,” Pain added.
Pain-s signing is further evidence of Melbourne Victory-s commitment to Australian youth, joining fellow youngsters Andrew Nabbout, Scott Galloway, Nick Ansell, Jesse Makarounas, Jason Geria and Jordan Brown as recent additions to Ange Postecoglou-s squad.
