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Interim Melbourne City boss Aurelio Vidmar is reiterating his desire to hold onto Jamie Maclaren amid suggestions the forward could quit the club at the end of the A-League Men season.
Maclaren, 30, is the competition’s all-time leading scorer but has found himself subject to transfer speculation linking him with a move away from City.
The striker, who was substituted after a below-par performance in last week’s loss 1-0 against Western Sydney Wanderers, will be looking to respond when City travel away to Central Coast Mariners on Sunday.
City sat seventh on the table heading into round 13 but Vidmar was refusing to let Maclaren’s future become a distraction as they aim to fight their way back into the top six.
“The policy within the club is not to discuss any player’s contract and I think it’s been here since day one and that’s not going to change,” said Vidmar.
“Whatever it is within the club, they need to sort it out.
“We know the player that Jamie is and he’s been a great player for the club.
“We’d love to keep him here and in the end they’ve got to decide what’s in the best interests of both parties.
“So that’s out of my hands, that’s out of my control and let’s see where that goes.”
City will be aiming to break the Mariners’ run of eight games without defeat.
The two sides played out an entertaining 3-3 draw the first time they met earlier this season but Vidmar is eager for City to up the ante after their attacking style was blunted in the defeat against the Wanderers.
“We really missed a massive opportunity last week,” Vidmar said.
“We were not aggressive enough, very negative in terms of the way we wanted to play our football and our effort was a lot less than what we’ve put up in the last 10 weeks or so.
“We have a chance to really redeem ourselves from last week’s performance against a very good Central Coast team.
“It’s a nice challenge and a good opportunity for us.”
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