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Opinion
The word on the street is that Daniel Arzani has an attitude problem.
Such a view appears to have weight when considered alongside his tendency to run pretty briskly whilst in attacking mode and work far less when forced to turn, chase and eventually defend.
However, the rumours about Arzani’s attitude towards authority, the strong influence his father played early in his career and the brilliant yet sometimes lazy visual evidence we see on the pitch that back them up, are merely that: rumours.
As a man, Arzani comes across as a friendly and bubbly sort of character, and one deemed good enough to travel to the 2018 World Cup in Russia on the back of little more than potential.
In recent days, the announcement was made that the 24-year-old would now join Melbourne Victory, signing a two-year deal with the club that takes him back to the city where he played his best football whilst only a teenager.
Arzani played a handful of good games with Macarthur FC in the most recent A-League season, yet was granted a release, obviously keen to settle back into a comfortable lifestyle in Melbourne and get his promising yet still unfulfilled career back on track.
Whilst with Melbourne City between 2016-18, the Iranian-born Arzani influenced off the bench, became known as one of the most explosive dribblers of the ball in the competition and loomed as a new star of the Australian game.
So impressive was he that Manchester City came calling, signing and then loaning him to Celtic in Scotland, setting the young man on a developmental path they hoped would turn him into the complete article.
Celtic’s Daniel Arzani goes off injured during the Scottish Premiership match at Dens Park, Dundee. (Photo by Jeff Holmes/PA Images via Getty Images)
A torn ACL on debut in the first team destroyed the first season of a two-year deal and Arzani never made it back into league action the following campaign.
Short loan periods at Utrecht, AGF and Lommel featured some first-team football, yet second-tier play in Belgium was not what most had envisaged for a player increasingly looking like being one of Australian football’s greatest underachievers.
His return to Australia for the 2022-23 season with Macarthur had some believing it was a wise move for a player running out of time. A blistering start to the season seemed to have confirmed that opinion and stellar form in the Australia Cup matches helped the Bulls to their first-ever piece of silverware.
Sadly, for much of the league season that followed, the Bulls stank; winning just seven matches. Arzani was unable to recapture his best in a struggling side that lost a coach and interest by the midpoint of the campaign.
Nine clubs in seven years sums up the stuttering career of Daniel Arzani. However, with plenty of kilometres back in the legs after a solid season, Melbourne Victory may well have pulled off one of the shrewdest acquisitions for the upcoming season.
If, and it is a considerable if, Arzani blends into a firing Victory side that Tony Popovic returns to dominance and back into the finals, we might be on the verge of finally seeing something like the player we all hoped he could be.
There were good signs at the Bulls, yet the team failed as a collective, with decent individual performances lost in a pool of ineptitude. But what of Arzani in a Victory front-line containing Chris Ikonomidis, Ben Folami, Nishan Vellupillay and Bruno Fornaroli?
That is some serious firepower and the sight of the new man charging at defenders on the left edge of the box and slotting balls into the path of Fornaroli for tap-ins is far from unimaginable. With Portuguese Nani having departed the club, Victory will have a big signing in the works, to add to a squad the looks far better than the 11th-placed finish of last season.
It feels like a crossroads moment for Arzani. Essentially, this could be it. A chance to finally dispel the rumours that many have used to explain his failure to bloom as predicted.
Melbourne Victory might be doing Australian football the biggest favour of all. Or, another failure could send Arzani to the scrap heap as he crosses the midpoint of his 20s.
Let’s hope not and that finally, Arzani re-emerges as a serious footballer with the Melbourne Victory.