SYDNEY FC’s hopes of landing a European defender immediately have been set back, after they ruled out one option due to his alleged links to a match-fixing scandal in Greece.

Melbourne-born centreback Avraam Papadopoulos was put forward to Sydney at the weekend as a replacement for Matt Jurman, but the club quickly realised that Papadopoulos was named by prosecutors last year in relation to an ongoing probe into claims of match fixing surrounding Greek champions Olympiakos.

The widespread investigation has taken in club officials, league officials, players and referees, though there has been little headway made since 85 people were named by prosecutors as having evidence against them as part of the inquiry.

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Papadopoulos is a free agent, having had short stints with Trabzonspor in Turkey, Shanghai Shenhua and Júbilo Iwata in the J-League since leaving Olympiakos two years ago. He played multiple games in the Champions League and also played for Greece at the World Cup in 2010.

Sydney coach Graham Arnold had hoped to bring in a defender at the start of this week, but will now be forced to use either midfielder Brandon O’Neill or one of youth team centrebacks George Timotheou and Patrick Flottmann in Saturday’s derby, with Seb Ryall injured last weekend against the Mariners.

media_camera Avraam Papadopoulos in action for Greece.

Ryall had been earmarked as the short-term replacement for Jurman, after the latter moved to Korea last week. Scans have so far proved inconclusive on his hamstring injury but he has little chance of being fit for the derby.

Sydney still aim to secure a senior replacement for Jurman during the transfer window, with former Socceroo Michael Thwaite a serious option. Thwaite is still contracted to Liaoning Whowin but the Chinese club is expected to sign both Robbie Kruse and James Holland in the coming days, in all likelihood meaning an exit for Thwaite and Socceroo Dario Vidosic.

It’s believed that Sydney tried to sign Thaite 18 months ago, with Arnold a long-time admirer of the 33-year-old, but financial constraints blocked a move then.

The Sky Blues have also not given up hope of securing Rhys Williams, with the players’ agent Tony Rallis claiming that the second year of his contract with Perth is dependent on him making 20 appearances this season to trigger an extension.

Perth angrily warned Sydney off Williams last month, after his name was mistakenly included on the list of available players distributed to all clubs, and have since labelled speculation over his future “disrespectful”.

But Rallis said it could be in Perth’s interests to release a player who wants to leave only eight months after signing for Glory.

“My understanding is that Rhys has played well below that trigger thresh-hold so far, and unless he reaches it Perth run the risk of him leaving at the end of the season anyway,” he said. “To my mind it would make sense for them to save the six-figure salary they will have to pay until the end of June by releasing him now.”

Perth CEO Peter Filopoulos confirmed that Williams’s contract included an activation clause, but declined to say how many games it needed, citing commercial in confidence. “What I will say is that it can be activated at any time before the end of this current year,” he said.