Being labeled ‘the next Harry Kewell’ puts some weight on your shoulders.
Daniel Arzani is Australia’s brightest star since the embers of the golden generation.
After breaking into the first team at Melbourne City and setting the A-League alight, Arzani starred in his cameos at the FIFA World Cup and was spoilt for choice for a loan move after he signed with Manchester City.
Clubs in Italy and Germany circled but PSV in Holland and Celtic were the front runners, and Arzani chose Scotland.
It was a critical choice too, as this club will define his development for the next two years, taking into account first-team football, competitiveness, coaching and international duty.
But head coach Brendan Rodgers appears to be trying to settle the young Aussie, hesitant to throw Arzani into the first team, which Fox Sports panelist Robbie Slater slammed during coverage of the Socceroos’ friendly against Kuwait.
“It’s an obvious error to take him there,” Slater said. “After the World Cup he needed to go somewhere and play regularly.
“Something has gone wrong – very, very wrong there.”
I wholeheartedly agree that for Arzani to grow, he needs to be playing first-team football. However, Slater said the Celtic venture was a failure already, and I politely disagree.
I don’t watch Celtic or the Scottish Premier League every week, so I’m not the best judge of whether Arzani is good enough for Celtic’s starting XI. But it would be easier to break into the Celtic first team than that of PSV or a team in the Bundesliga.
The fact of the matter is that, at 19, you have to earn your place in a team.
Daniel Arzani isn’t entitled to anything.
Winning a spot in the first team and keeping it at Melbourne City is chalk and cheese compared to Europe. No matter how good we think Arzani is, do we really think he can just walk into the Celtic team? What good do we do by throwing his toys out of the pram for him?
Daniel Arzani (Photo by Jason Heidrich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
There are many reasons why Arzani has been kept in cotton wool.
Perhaps Rodgers didn’t want to throw Arzani in the deep end and kill his confidence – think of Josh Brillante’s situation at Fiorentina four years ago.
Perhaps he doesn’t want to rely too much on Arzani before he misses a month and a half of football for the Asian Cup in January?
Perhaps the coach has moulded a dominant Celtic side that has won the first ever ‘Double Treble’ in his first two seasons and doesn’t want to upset the fabric of the team by throwing in an unproven player?
Maybe Arzani is not good enough.
While the final point is debatable, the others are perfectly viable and reasonable.
The World Game revealed earlier this week a clause in Arzani’s deal that says he effectively has until December to earn first-team minutes or his loan can be cut short and he can look elsewhere.
If Daniel Arzani wants to fight it out, he can – but if he wishes to move elsewhere then he will. He is the master of his own fate and it’s up to him to work hard and make the right decisions.
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