New suitors in for Mooy's signature

Aaron Mooy’s starring performance for Australia against England has had the effect of attracting a whole new raft of offers for the Melbourne City midfielder who is set to switch his career to Europe.

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The flow-on effect is that Mooy now might not make a decision on his future before late this month. It had been anticipated he would make a decision around the middle of the month, after he had time to think following the completion of his latest international commitments with the Socceroos.

Mooy is in camp with the Socceroos preparing for games against Greece in Sydney on Saturday and Melbourne on Tuesday.

The World Game reported ahead of the game against England last weekend that numerous European club scouts would be attending the clash at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, many with the priority of assessing Mooy’s form.

He had already been the subject of major interest from European clubs and his excellent form in the 2-1 loss to England, with so many scouts watching him in action live, has led to a further dramatic increase in the number of clubs who want to talk to him.

TWG understands about eight new clubs have expressed an interest in getting involved in negotiations, taking the number of clubs chasing Mooy to about 15.

And that is not including clubs in China or the Middle East, where Mooy could make a bundle if he wanted to play there.

Belgium’s Club Brugge and Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers were already known to be among the clubs seeking Mooy’s signature and TWG has been told clubs from the top divisions in Germany, Holland and England are among the others in the hunt.

Mooy’s aim is to find out just how good he is by playing in Europe and his experience playing against England has only increased his self-belief.

Speaking in Sydney this week, Mooy described the experience, for him, of playing against the top English players.

“Everyone talks about it saying it’s different, (but) I don’t think it’s that much quicker (than the A-League),” he said. “They’re better players on the ball, and probably physically better as well, but I didn’t really feel like it was a lot quicker than playing in the A-League.”

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou had no doubt where Mooy stood in comparison to England’s best players on the day.

“Hopefully people saw he’s able to mix it with the best,” Postecoglou said. “I thought the two best midfielders on the pitch were Tommy Rogic and Aaron Mooy - actually the three best, because I thought Mile Jedinak was outstanding as well.

“I can’t name one English midfielder who got the better of those three.”

It could only boost Mooy’s appeal in Europe to have played very well on the same day and in the same team as Rogic, who had previously reportedly attracted the interest of English Premier League heavyweights Arsenal as well as clubs in Italy and Spain.

The big mistake Mooy is desperate to avoid is to join a club where he ends up spending a lot of time on the bench.

Wherever he goes, he is anxious to play regular football so he can achieve his ambitions and also ensure he is physically well prepared to play for the Socceroos, with important World Cup qualifying games coming up later this year.