A-League: Daniel Arzani urged to delver for Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory captain Roderick Miranda says Daniel Arzani is the most talented Australian footballer he has seen, and now wants the former prodigy to prove it weekly in the A-League.

Since playing for the Socceroos at the 2018 World Cup as an 19-year-old, Arzani’s career has stalled.

He bounced from club to club in Europe for the next four years before returning to the A-League last season to join Macarthur FC.

A promising start quickly faded, particularly after Arzani wasn’t picked in the Socceroos’ 2022 World Cup squad.

Injury was to then end the attacking weapon’s season prematurely.

Despite having another year of his Macarthur contract to run, Arzani wanted to join the Victory.

Macarthur obliged by terminating his deal in July, allowing Arzani to move to the Tony Popovic-coached Victory.

Miranda said Arzani had made an extremely good impression in the pre-season, but suggested it would mean nothing if he didn’t perform in the season proper.

“This kid is a special talent, the biggest talent I’ve seen here when it comes to Australian player, but now it’s up to him,” the Victory’s Portuguese skipper and defender said.

“This season he has something to prove, not only to himself, but to other people

“His football is unbelievable. Every player that has played with him will say the same, but in the end, it’s about performance.

“I’m met plenty of players with a lot of quality but sometimes for whatever reason, they cannot perform on the weekends, and that’s what matters.

“We are here to help him, and he’s really keen to help us as well by showing his best qualities and the best version of himself.

“Hopefully he can bring a lot of joy to us and enjoy his time here. It’s a good group of lads, so we will try to help everybody.”

Such camaraderie will be needed if the Victory are to redeem themselves after last season’s poor effort.

“We need to start really well with a good game to try to create some momentum,” Miranda said ahead of the Victory’s first game of the season, Saturday night’s “Big Blue” against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.

“We need to learn from the mistakes we made last season, and change our mentality and approach to games.

“We must understand why we lost so many points in some moments when we could have won games.

“We must improve. Everyone is trying to understand the new ideas and the new game plan we have for this season.”

Miranda has taken over the Victory captaincy from Josh Brillante, who moved to the Western Sydney Wanderers in the off-season,

“Being named captain is a big honour, but the pressure is the same,” he said.

“The pressure is already there when you’re playing for a big club.”

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