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Central Coast Mariners coach Graham Arnold has resigned himself to losing promising A-League midfielder Mustafa Amini to a European club.
It is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when, and Arnold hopes it comes about later rather than sooner.
“I’m not concerned with that because it is every player’s dream to go overseas,” Arnold told AAP.
“As a club we felt the original offer from (Bundesliga club) Dortmund of 100,000 euros ($A137,000) was not enough for a player of his talent.
“It has probably opened up the field for other clubs to have a look at him, it just shows where the A-League sits when the coach of Celtic, Neil Lennon, knows about the players that we have.
“It shows the reputation of the Australian players.”
Socceroos Mark Viduka and Scott MacDonald both plied their trade with Celtic.
“They’ve done excellent at Celtic and everyone knows the mentality of the Australian players over in Europe is good,” Arnold said.
“My opinion is that he (Amini) could do with another year here mainly because he’s got the under-20 World Cup in August but also the kid came from nowhere last year.
“He’s still developing, physically, technically he’s got it, tactically he’s learning and for a kid who last year played in 23 games, didn’t complete 90-minutes once, it has been a big step so far and he’s got a long way to go.”
The 18-year-old will play against Scottish Premier League giants Celtic on Saturday at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
Celtic manager Neil Lennon is keen to see the Afro-haired creative midfielder play against his side.
“He’s a player that’s been flagged up to us,” Lennon said.
“I’ll get a good look at him on Saturday hopefully.”
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