SoccerAnchor's Kieran Francis analyses the arrival of 2010/2011 Johnny Warren Medallist Marcos Flores at Melbourne Victory...

MARCOS FLORES

FROM: HENAN JIANYE  TO: MELBOURNE VICTORY 

PRICE: Free Transfer

With the departures of star midfielders Carlos Hernandez and Harry Kewell, Melbourne Victory's creative midfield stocks were looking quite thin a few weeks ago. Because Kewell was an "international" marquee and Hernandez was taking up a huge chunk of the salary cap, these player departures gave Victory significant movement within their financial structures to sign a new marquee on an extremely large wage.

Coinciding with the extra financial capacity and available marquee spot, was the release of former Adelaide United star, Marcos Flores, from Chinese Super League club Henan Jianye.

Henan have been in and around the relegation zone all season and they decided to release the skilful Argentinian, by mutual consent,  to sign a more defensive foreign player to attempt to fight off the drop to China's League One.

Immediately, Flores was linked with a return to his former A-League club Adelaide United, where he won the Johnny Warren Medal for the A-League's best player in 2010/2011. In that season, Flores contributed 9 goals and 8 assists in performances that set the A-League alight.

When it became clear that Adelaide couldn't afford to fit Flores within their wage structure, Melbourne Victory pounced on the 26-year-old attacking midfield star.

On July 4th, it was announced that Flores had signed with Victory on a 2 year marquee deal reportedly worth $550,000 a season.

The signing has been the biggest movement of the pre-season so far and it has gone a long way to reducing Victory supporters concerns about the squad's quality.

Flores is the perfect replacement for Carlos Hernandez' central attacking midfield position and will look to supply killer balls to strikers Archie Thompson and Danny Allsopp.

The signing also adds significant spice to the already heated battles between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory.

The return of a past competition superstar is good for the league and will hopefully help to drum up interest in the A-League as the competition continues to grow.