Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar doesn't begrudge Aziz Behich for leaving the A-League Men club, admitting the financial terms of the deal were hard to ignore.
Just five months after signing a two-year deal with City, Behich has joined Cristiano Ronaldo's Saudi Arabian side Al-Nassr on loan until the end of the season.
The Socceroos defender is expected to rejoin City after that deal finishes, but his temporary departure has dealt a massive blow to the club's title hopes this season.
No one was more shocked than Vidmar when he heard news of Behich's transfer from City's football operations manager Michael Petrillo.
"I was driving down the freeway. I almost drove off it when Michael rang me," Vidmar said.
"It's a bit of a shock, because he's a big leader for us and a very good player in an important position.
"But it's football, I understand.
"It's quite a significant financial move for him for the five months, and you don't begrudge him.
"It's not ideal for us, but we have to show some empathy. The club was well looked after in terms of that loan deal on the monetary front.
"But the point is we do get Aziz back at the end of the year."
While disappointed to lose Behich's services, City received a dose of good news on Thursday when they signed Socceroos attacker Marco Tilio on loan until the end of the season.
Tilio joined Celtic following a standout 2022-23 campaign for City, but his lack of game time in Scotland convinced him to return home.
"It's really exciting for us and for Tills as well, because he hasn't had much fun over the past six months since he moved to Celtic," Vidmar said.
"He wants to get back and start playing again. Get back to the form that he was in before he left the club."
City have also snapped up former Socceroos midfielder James Jeggo during the transfer window on a two-year deal.
Vidmar said Jeggo is in line to play off the bench in Friday night's clash with Perth Glory at HBF Park.
Mathew Leckie, whose Socceroos Asian Cup hopes were cruelled by a hamstring injury, is also set to feature against Glory.
"Leckie has been training with the group now for almost a couple of weeks, so he's with the travelling party," Vidmar said, adding that Croatian Marin Jakolis (hamstring) is back in full training but remains a week away from playing.
Glory could again be without star striker Adam Taggart, who is battling a calf issue and is rated only a 50-50 chance of lining up.
Perth coach Alen Stajcic says defender Mark Beevers is still three to four weeks away from returning from a leg injury.
Glory (12 points) sit second last on the table despite picking up a win and a draw in their past two games, while City (21 points) are sixth following last week's 1-0 win over Adelaide.
