The A-League Men's transfer window has slammed shut (those things never close gently), the Australian top-flight joining the likes of England, France, the Netherlands, and Germany in bringing to an end its midseason silly season.
Now, coaches will have to content themselves with their current squads, or players who were free agents at the time the window closed, in their pursuit of silverware.
After a busy month, Joey Lynch has run the rule over some of the most notable incomings and outgoings in the Australian top-flight.
All fees are reported unless confirmed with an asterisk. Values shown are in Australian dollars.
THOMAS WADDINGHAM
$395,000
Grade: B
It was long taken for granted that the striker would eventually make his way to Europe, and Waddingham duly signed for Championship side Portsmouth soon after the window opened. Netting a consolation goal in a 5-1 loss to West Bromwich Albion on debut, the 19-year-old hasn't featured for John Mousinho's side in recent weeks but will be given plenty of time to develop by the former Premier League club.
The progression of the Cairns-born forward from Brisbane Roar's youth ranks through to a European transfer exemplifies the model that A-League clubs need to adopt in coming years, emblematic of the league's developmental focus. Holding this deal back from an A grade, however, is that the fee for a player of Waddingham's potential, short of any other information about add-ons or limiting factors emerging, would appear on the low end, especially compared to other deals this month.
JED DREW
Undisclosed
OLI JONES
$400,000
ARIATH PIOL
$830,000
Grade: A
There's been an exodus of young talent from southwest Sydney across the midseason window but, fortunately for Macarthur, it's been accompanied by over a million dollars flowing in the opposite direction.
Central defender Jones moved to Danish side Randers -- home of fellow Australians Paul Izzo and Mohamed Toure -- in late January in a deal reported as being worth approx. $400k. Meanwhile Drew, in a move that should boost his chances of a Socceroos call-up, landed with TSV Hartberg in the Austrian Bundesliga for an undisclosed fee. Most remarkably of all, having only signed him from Western Sydney Wanderers' youth ranks in 2023 and given him 14 senior appearances, the Buls will net a reported $830k from Real Salt Lake for Piol.
Certainly, the loss of the trio will present Bulls coach Mile Sterjovski with some short-term headaches, but ultimately, the club has done well to give these players exposure at a senior level and cash-in.
MITCH LANGERAK
Free transfer
Grade: A
With his signing announced before the start of the A-League season, Langerak finally landed in Australia following the end of the J1 League campaign. The veteran has quickly shown just how valuable it can be to add one of the best keepers Australia has produced to your ranks. Keeping two clean sheets in his first two starts -- the first time Melbourne Victory had done so in consecutive games all season -- and three of his first four, the 36-year-old brings an air of authority and command to his penalty area in addition to his shot-stopping and distribution. In a season where things haven't gone to plan for Victory, that's an important addition.
JASON GERIA
Undisclosed
Grade: C-
One of the league's best defenders, Geria's sudden emergence as a Socceroo put him in the frame for an unlikely but well-deserved move to Japan -- an opportunity none could begrudge him for pursuing. However, multiple reports have indicated that Victory -- who have declined to make any comment -- received no transfer fee for the defender's services, which isn't ideal.
The most likely scenario is that Geria possessed a clause in the new contract he signed in the offseason allowing him to move to a stronger league. Eager to retain his services, Victory likely wouldn't have envisioned a scenario in which he returned to the national team fold (few would have) and agreed. But given that the alternative may have been to not have Geria at all, and they did sign Josh Rawlins to provide cover, it's not an utter disaster.
LACHLAN JACKSON
Free transfer
Grade: B
With Rawlins called into action to fill Geria's slot at right-back and skipper Roderick Miranda increasingly error-prone, Victory needed to add more defensive depth in the January transfer window and did so with the addition of Jackson. A bigger-bodied defender who made nearly 100 appearances for Korean side Suwon FC after leaving the Newcastle Jets in 2021, he doesn't quite carry the wow factor that Miloš Degenek -- who coach Arthur Diles confirmed was a target before he joined FK TSC -- would have done but should serve as a solid starter if required, as well as giving Victory the ability to play with a five-man defensive front.
KOTA MIZUNUMA
Free transfer
Grade: A
After previously spending his entire career in Japan -- making nearly 150 appearances in the J1 League and winning a title with Kevin Muscat's Yokohama F. Marinos in 2022 -- Mizunuma landed in the Hunter this January and has already begun making his mark, notching assists in back-to-back games against the Central Coast Mariners and Victory. He's also apparently been rather taken with the Nissan Patrols he's seen on the streets of Newcastle.
The 34-year-old's ability to serve as what looks like a significant on-field asset is supplemented by the impact he can have by serving as a mentor and example to a young Jets group; coach Rob Stanton already noting the influence he's having at training. Further, the deal he signed until the end of the season carries with it an option for 2025-26, which gives the Jets the chance to lock down a very talented asset.
VARIOUS INS AND OUTS
Grade: B
Perth Glory got their recruiting badly wrong during the offseason, especially when it came to their international additions: Luis Cangá and Cristian Caicedo have already had their contracts mutually terminated just three months after they were signed. The club's attempt to terminate the contract of Mustafa Amini, meanwhile, has seen him initiate legal proceedings with the aid of player's union, which could reportedly end with the West Australian outfit facing a points deduction or even being barred from registering players. Jarrod Carluccio, Luke Bodnar and Abdelelah Faisal have also departed.
With their season threatening to spiral into historic lows, only mitigated by the fact that the Roar are finding a way to somehow be worse, director of football Stan Lazaridis had to do something to try and help first year-coach David Zdrillic and has done so by signing Tomislav Mrčela, Yuto Misao, Takuya Okamoto, Patrick Wood, Tass Mourdoukoutas, and Lachie Wales. Those players might not all hit as the season goes on -- albeit Wales has shown some level of early promise and Mrčela is certainly an upgrade on Cangá -- but with signs of improvement shown by the Glory across the last month, at least the patient isn't hemorrhaging anymore.
ALEX GERSBACH
Free transfer
JOSHUA LAWS
Free transfer
Grade: B+
The Wanderers' defence has proven alarmingly porous at times this season and, while new players can only go so far in covering for unaddressed structural issues, if they can get these two on the park they've certainly bolstered the playing stocks available to Alen Stajcic.
It feels like Gersbach has been around forever -- which is what happens when you debut at 17 and become a Socceroo at 19 -- but he's still only 27, ostensibly in his prime, and coming off 19 appearances in the Swedish Allsvenskan last season. The Wanderers have been able to snare him on a two-and-a-half-year deal, it looks like a tidy bit of business for both, strengthening the left side of Stajcic's defence and giving the Auburn local a chance to play regular football and re-ignite his international career.
Laws, meanwhile, has only signed until the end of the season (which is still to the dismay of Wellington Phoenix fans who had hoped he would return to New Zealand), but he should bolster the centre of a defence that still hasn't found a way to fill a Marcelo-shaped void.
HAYDEN MATTHEWS
$2.5 million
Grade: A+
The departure of Matthews left a gaping hole in the Sky Blues' defence, but when one is offered a reported $2.5m fee -- the third-highest ever for an A-League player and enough to cover Sydney's entire salary floor for this season -- you kind of have to take it.
Joining the Sydney academy at 12 and earning a Socceroos call-up soon after his senior debut, Matthews' progression through the ranks of the Sky Blues pathway is everything that the league should be trying to accomplish as their economic model shifts towards a transfer focused one. He cost Sydney nothing to acquire and now, having had faith and care put into his development, has rewarded them with a multi-million dollar fee. It's a lesson that the whole league could learn from ... including perhaps Sydney themselves if Adrian Segecic is going to continue to ride the pine.
ALEX GRANT
Free transfer
Grade: B+
As is the case for their crosstown foes, there will be a limit to how much a new addition in Grant can go about covering for deeper problems at the core of Sydney's defensive issues. But as far as replacements for Matthews go, the Sky Blues were able to sign perhaps the best available Australian free agent (once Degenek was off the market) to make an instant impact and aid their playoff push.
Signing a deal for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign -- giving Perth fans hope that their mournful yearning for a reunion with the former Glory defender may one day happen -- 31-year-old Grant lands after a successful four-year stint in Asia, which included a run to a Asian Champions League final with Pohang Steelers, that should probably have earned him at least one Socceroos cap.
ASUMAH ABUBAKAR
Free transfer
Grade: B+
Just 27 years old, the former Portugal youth international is arriving in Queensland at a good age and while he was obviously on the outer at Grasshoppers, still managed seven appearances this season. Having played in both the Dutch and Swiss top flights across his career he has the pedigree that suggests he should be able to find success in Australia, especially for a club that desperately needed attacking reinforcement like the Roar did. There's a risk that, like Rafael Struick, Néicer Acosta, and Marcus Ferkranus, he fails to find his feet after arriving from overseas, but given that he's signed until the end of the season, there's minimal exposure to risk.