Australian footballer Michael Thwaite has reportedly completed his speculated transfer move to China, signing with Chinese Super League squad Liaoning Whowin FC on Monday after eight consecutive seasons in the A-League.
The 32-year-old Thwaite last played for Australian top flight club Perth Glory and served as its team captain and defender from the 2012-2013 season up to 16 games in the current 2015-2016 season.
Goal reported that the Purple Rain had officially released their former captain to allow him to join Liaoning this month "after three-and-a-half seasons and 85 matches". Thwaite has also suited up with other A-League teams such as Melbourne Victory and Gold Coast United during the early part of his eight-year stay in the association.
The report also noted that the Brisbane, Australia native became the fourth Glory player to leave the club during this winter transfer window after left back Antony Golec (FC Sherriff Tiraspol, Moldova), winger Sidnei Sciola (FC Juarez, Mexico), and forward Guyon Fernandez, who has yet to sign with any team as of the moment.
"Michael's had some ambitions to explore opportunities overseas which we've known about for a while and we're not standing in his way. We wish him the best of luck going forward," Glory CEO Peter Filopoulos said in an official statement, as per The Guardian.
Filopoulos also disclosed that the club plans to make significant acquisitions within the winter window to improve its roster after the recent mass exodus of talents.
Thwaite started his senior career with Sydney University in 2002 before playing the next two seasons with the Marconi Stallions of the now defunct National Soccer League. He then went on to play in several clubs from the minor European leagues such as FC Progresul București in Romania, Wisła Kraków in Poland, and SK Brann in Norway from 2004 to 2008.
He was placed on loan to Melbourne Victory by Brann in June of 2008 before making a permanent transfer to the A-League squad in January of 2009. He played with the team until February 2011, when Gold Coast United signed him.
Thwaite received several individual honors while playing for Gold Coast including a Player's Player of the Year and Member's Player of the Year awards in 2009-2010 and Player of the Year award in 2010-2011.