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Opinion
The 2014-15 FFA COE side, under the watchful eye of coach Tony Vidmar, produced many A-League alumni – Joe Caletti, James Delianov and Nicholas D’Agostino to name a few.
It is perhaps best known, however, for the diminutive attacking player with floppy hair and socks pulled down, who was like a child in a playground – Daniel Arzani.
Arzani is a much-maligned figure in Australian football circles and it’s hard to believe that the former prodigy will soon be 24 years old.
In a career so far that has had more stops than starts the mercurial attacking talent has sprung a surprise, by signing on to play in the Australia with the Macarthur Bulls for season 2022-23.
Arzani found himself a free agent after his four-year, £20,000 per week contract with English Premier League club Manchester City ended in June.
He was signed by one of the world’s best clubs after an explosive season with Melbourne City in 2017-18 where he was named in the A-League team of the season, as well as winning the young player of the year award.
In the four years since leaving Australia, Arzani never made his debut for the club that bought him and was loaned out to five different sides – amassing less than 30 games in a European journey littered with injuries and attitude problems.
Arzani’s first loan spell was with Celtic, where he was starting to make inroads with the reserves before suffering a dreaded ACL injury.
(Photo by Jeff Holmes/PA Images via Getty Images)
His next two loans were in Holland with Utrecht and Denmark with AGS, but long-standing soft tissue injuries ruined any progress.
His last loan move was to Belgium’s first division to play with Sommell, where he was able to string together a run of games before his body broke down again.
Arzani’s temperament also got the better of him, which resulted in multiple training ground bust-ups with teammates and coaching staff.
A return to Australia to reinvigorate his love with the game and rediscover form might be just what the doctor ordered to rejuvenate Daniel Arzani’s stalled football career.
Deep down he is still that rebellious boy who loves the Rondo training drill and will try and nutmeg players or dazzle with multiple step-overs – before effortlessly pirouetting out of danger
Trickery, creativity, imagination and technical skills that were all initially honed by years of playing futsal and street football.
However, it will take some time to acclimatise to Australia’s notoriously hard pitches, in comparison to Europe’s softer and slicker surfaces.
The 23-year-old has lost over two years of his career to injuries and the likelihood of picking up niggling soft tissue injuries will be very high in Australia.
However, he has already shown what he can produce for his new club – scoring a goal as well as two assists in the Bulls’ 6-3 demolition of the Magpies in a recent Australia Cup match.
Approaching his mid-20s, Arzani has earnt a lot of money and with his injury-prone body I don’t think anyone could begrudge the player if he wanted to retire.
Hanging up the boots is not an option for Arzani, who still believe he is capable of playing in Europe.
Being able to continually bounce back from injuries shows the player has a steely determination to succeed.
If Macarthur are able to keep Arzani fit, they would have a player capable of producing moments of magic – if they can’t, Arzani will likely be the latest in a lengthy list of former teenage tyros to fade into football obscurity.
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