Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick with the club refusing to confirm where in the world Merrick is on his latest jaunt to recruit overseas talent.
The club would not say where Merrick has travelled to in his bid to sign a fourth overseas player but it is believed he is in Latin America, most likely Costa Rica. Merrick will arrive back in Australia on the morning of the club's final Asian Champions League match against Chonburi FC next Wednesday.
Victory football operations manager Gary Cole said on Thursday that the club was not at liberty to discuss where Merrick was but just that he had arrived safely at his mystery destination.
After the media pack breathed a collective sigh of relief at news of Merrick's wellbeing, they were told that it was too complicated for the club to explain where he was.
"He's going to various places over the course of the next seven days to look at a few different players. We're not going to discuss where he is, that just complicates things. He's off scouting," Cole said.
While Cole wouldn't elaborate on why knowledge of the whereabouts of his coach would be a complication, he was confident Merrick's absence from training would not detract from the Victory's preparation for what is essentially a dead rubber against the Thai champions next Wednesday.
"The head coach will be back on the morning of the game. The head coach has got a very competent coaching staff behind him. Melbourne Victory wants to win the game, because if we do, there's a very good chance we'll finish second in the group and that would be very satisfying," he said.
Cole denied Merrick's absence in the lead-up to the game was anything to do with the fact the Victory's ACL campaign is all but over.
"It may have happened (if the Victory were still in contention). This is the reality of playing in the A-League, playing in a competition that goes outside the normal competition parameters. It's part of the challenge," he said.
"Is it worthwhile our head coach going to evaluate players? Yes. The board has asked us to review our recruiting process. Would we have done it if this was last game? I can't answer that, that's a make-up. It certainly suits us at this time. It's a wise and hopefully prosperous thing to be doing."
After being not able to confirm where his coach was, or whether he would have been wherever he is if the Victory needed to win this game, Cole was at least able to say that the club was looking for just one player.
"We've got one visa spot available at the moment," he said.