Brisbane slumped to the worst start to a season in A-League Men history on Saturday with their 10th defeat in 12 games.
Waddingham is set to move to the UK when the transfer window opens, with English Championship clubs QPR, Portsmouth and Sheffield Wednesday interested in signing the Brisbane whiz kid.
Brisbane Roar's Thomas Waddingham has attracted plenty of interest from English clubs. (Pat Hoelscher/AAP PHOTOS)
Under-fire Roar coach Ruben Zadkovich, who was given a yellow card in the second half after exchanging words with officials against City, confirmed the 19-year-old striker's exit was being finalised.
"There's been a lot of interest around Tommy, and rightfully so," Zadkovich said.
"I'm not going to talk about the inner workings of that deal, but let's just say it's a positive for Tommy and his career, and it's a positive for our club financially."
Missing eight first-choice players due to injury, City recorded their third straight win.
Teenager Ben Mazzeo, who scored for a second consecutive game, broke the deadlock after slotting a superb header from a Zane Schreiber corner in the 65th minute.
🔥 Straining the neck muscles to put us in front!— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) Benny's brilliant header in all of its glory �� @10FootballAU | #MCYvBRI | 🩵 1-0 � pic.twitter.com/0FOp3Ni9CmJanuary 11, 2025
City are undefeated from their past seven matches in a big tick for the coaching of Aurelio Vidmar, who declared they "haven't achieved anything".
"If this is the end of the year, and we're sitting at the top of the table then we've got something to gloat about," Vidmar said.
"But right now, we've got nothing to gloat about."
As City eye the title, the Roar's campaign has been nothing short of a disaster. They are now the owners of the worst record from the first 12 games of a season in the 20-year history of the competition.
Stranded on the bottom of the table, Brisbane are winless with just two draws to go with their 10 defeats, even worse than the New Zealand Knights back in 2005 when they had three points from 12 games.
The club's last win was a 2-1 away victory over Western Sydney on April 5 - 283 days ago. Their club record winless streak has stretched to 15 games.
"It's been a steady decline for Brisbane Roar over a longer period, there's been a lot of reasons why we've end up in this position," Zadkovich said.
"What I can say is, like the team and the staff, the players and the people inside our four walls are very resolute with where we're going long term."
City head to New Zealand next Saturday for a blockbuster against Auckland, while Brisbane face Sydney FC.
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