Rukavytsya made Glory U-23 marquee

Perth Glory striker Nikita Rukavytsya has been confirmed as the club’s Under-23 marquee player for the 2008/09 A-League season.

The 21 year old recently signed a contract extension that locks him to Perth until the end of the 2009/10 season, however he is attracting attention from clubs in Australia and abroad.

“Nikita is a very exciting young prospect and has a bright future in the game,” said Glory Coach Dave Mitchell.

“He’s level headed and desperate to continue to improve himself as a player and is adding to his game all the time.

“Nikita is not only scoring goals but also contributing to the team when he doesn’t have the ball. He works hard to apply pressure on defenders and is setting up his team mates in good positions for us to attack,” said Mitchell.

The Football Federation Australia Under-23 marquee system was introduced this season to encourage the country’s rising stars to remain in the A-League.

Each club has the option of placing an Under-23 player outside their salary cap to a maximum of $150,000.

“It’s important to keep these players in Australia as they’re developing. We have a quality league and it is a terrific grounding for any player with aspirations of playing at the highest levels in Europe.

“It can be very difficult if they try to make their way over there at a young age because there is a lot of competition and they may not end up playing many games which can be detrimental to their long term development.

“I think the system could be expanded to incorporate two Under 23 players at each club because we have so many quality kids coming through the system and I can only see benefits for the A-League and Australian football,” Mitchell said.

Published on November 18, 2008