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In the opening 20 minutes against the Brisbane Roar on Sunday, Melbourne City made quite clear the newly minted value they’ve placed on Daniel Arzani.
Forming one-fourth of a fluid attacking unit, Arzani enjoyed 26 unique touches in that opening stanza, 22 of them in the Brisbane half, more than any of his attacking colleagues.
It was obvious City were making a concerted effort not just to involve Arzani, but to play through him, to seek him out. Luke Brattan made a number of diagonal passes out to the 19-year-old, from positions where a pass out to the other flank would have been equally viable.
In just eight appearances – five starts – Arzani has taken a leading role in a team that has scored more goals and won more games than any other A-League team over the last six rounds.
You can feel it, can’t you? That bubbling sensation, that effervescent, sugary fizz, that sweet, moreish delight we mustn’t let ourselves give in to.
Yes, Arzani is already one of the league’s best dribblers. In 401 minutes played, according to Fox Sports, he’s apparently evaded 12 tackles – only two fewer than James Troisi, who’s played more than three times as many league minutes this season. In fact, if we were to throw a rather ham-fisted ‘tackles-evaded-per-90-minutes’ stat together, Arzani would come out at 2.8, a better rate than the league’s slipperiest dribbler – by volume – Diego Castro, who sits at 27 evaded tackles this season, at a rate of 1.7.
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It’s not just Arzani’s ability with the ball at his feet that makes him such a threat though, it’s also how he prepares for the ball to arrive.
Any winger worth their salt can receive the ball in this much space, touch it gently into the open field in front of them, and start running at a defender.
But how many can accept a pass, speared into feet a little later that it might have been, and dance away from a marker with soft, quick touches, all while keeping possession?
For a winger – especially if you’re a well-known, targeted threat – having the touch and timing required to first control the ball, under heavy pressure, is almost more important than having an arsenal of jinks and feints to dip into once you’ve controlled it.
This rather unkind – but nonetheless hilarious – ‘tribute’ video made for Kwabena Appiah illustrates how important touch and awareness are for an attacker, regardless of their other physical assets.
Out-of-control bolters are a dime-a-dozen in the A-League. Lethal, balanced dribblers are far more valuable.
Arzani had some lovely moments against Brisbane, staging a running battle with Corey Brown, skirmishes he largely had the better of – at one point Brown was seen grinning and back-slapping with Arzani after successfully shepherding the ball out for a goal-kick.
His value in the open field is striking; the way he sat down Avraam Papadopoulos, effectively running straight through the experienced Greek centre back on the break, was wonderfully effortless.
Around the hour mark, having just got into a brief sulk after an exchange with the referee, Arzani took up the responsibility of finishing off a sudden counter-attack
His sharp cut-and-shot was saved, and the rebound chalked off for offside, but the decisiveness and confidence shown to fashion an attempt was refreshing; so often counters like that are bogged down by over-elaboration in the critical final moments.
He’s 19, which isn’t wunderkind young, but it’s still young enough to expect Arzani to improve considerably as his career progresses. Players union chief John Didulica came out on Monday saying Australia should “act strategically” with regards to Arzani, and cap him early to ensure he can’t choose to represent Iran at senior international level.
Didulica, evidently, has succumbed to that fizzy feeling, and is allowing the mania to overcome his better judgement. Invariably, when young players – already arcing across the night sky thanks to their sparkling on-field efforts – are made the subjects of sensational off-field narratives as well, things tend to end badly.
If Arzani really wants to represent Iran – his country of birth – then he can, as unlikely as it seems considering he has spent his entire sporting life here, coming through the AIS program. It would be regrettable – and only in largely hypothetical terms – but it wouldn’t be a disaster.
There is no need to hysterically clamp him to the Socceroos with an acutely conspicuous and highly premature call-up during the first year of Bert van Marwijk’s reign, in a World Cup year. He’s made a pleasing impression on one-third of an A-League season, a cap – at this point, for these reasons – is unnecessary.
You don’t even need to look for cautionary examples among other young Australian footballers, just look at another young Australian footballer named Daniel.
Daniel De Silva is repairing his slightly cracked young career back in the A-League with Central Coast, having suffered through a disjointed trip through Europe. A deal with Roma fell through, and a largely pointless two-year loan to Roda JC in the Eredivisie was cut short with six months to go.
De Silva – still just 20 years old – was called up by Ange Postecoglou back in 2015, and sat on the bench in a match against Kyrgyzstan. He’s yet to earn another cap, but now appears to be back on the trajectory to do so, after nearly two years wandering through the too-much-too-soon wilderness.
So yes, we are allowed to sit and warm ourselves around the hopeful fire Arzani’s eight promising games for City have stoked – this article is not intended to douse it all in cold water.
But we also don’t need to begin chanting ourselves into a frenzy, and fan the flames into an all-consuming inferno.
A steady burn, not a flashbulb, is what we want for our bright young stars, and as bright and young as Arzani is, he could do with some more time in the shade.