Lolley, who signed a marquee deal understood to worth more than $1 million per season when he joined the Sky Blues in 2022, has put pen to paper on a new two-year deal that will keep him with Sydney until at least 2026.

While the Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne Victory were believed to have offered the 31-year-old winger more money to leave the Sky Blues, Lolley was more than happy to remain with Sydney FC.

“Once I knew the club wanted to keep me for the longer term I wanted to make sure I go it done as soon as possible,” he said.

“You feel like you always have to listen to what’s out there. You don’t want just close all your options because a football career’s only short, but deep down I always wanted to stay at Sydney and I think it would have taken something pretty extraordinary to tempt me away.

“I’m very confident and very happy that I wanted to stay here.”

Lolley was just as content to remain in the A-League despite the competition’s disastrous current financial state.

The Australian Professional Leagues, which runs the A-League’s men’s and women’s competitions, this week made close to 50 per cent of its staff redundant, with cost-cutting measures including the shutting down of KeepUp, its digital platform that sucked up $40 million in expenses.

It’s part of a “strategic and commercial review” the APL has undertaken to “create efficiencies through consolidation”.

“It’s a chance for the A-League to reset itself and grow in the future,” Lolley said.

“The A-League’s really good. Players are developing really well here … and we get a pretty good crowd here every week at Sydney. In an ideal world we’ll keep growing and improving those crowds.”