Perth Glory have signed former Western United goalkeeper Matt Sutton on a short-term deal after Mark Birighitti suffered a knee injury at training. Birighitti, who was set to start in Saturday's A-League opener against Wellington Phoenix, will undergo surgery and is expected to be sidelined for two months.
Sutton, 25, played all 29 matches for Western United last season before the club was placed into 'conditional hibernation' for the 2025-26 campaign. He will train with Perth for the first time on Thursday and compete with Cameron Cook for the starting goalkeeper spot.
Perth football director Stan Lazaridis said: 'We looked at the situation, knew that Matt was available and were able to get the signing done. It's a real shame for 'Birraz', but he'll be back.' Sutton joins former United teammates Rhys Bozinovski and Charbel Shamoon at the Glory.
Meanwhile, star signing Tom Lawrence will not play this weekend due to visa clearance issues, and Sam Sutton is expected to miss the first month of the season with a quad injury.
