A quick look at Melbourne City’s squad for their triumphant Grand Final and it is clear to see the fingerprints of the club’s academy on this Isuzu UTE A-League Championship triumph.
From Max Caputo and Medin Memeti, to Lawrence Wong, Alessandro Lopane, Kavian Rahmani and Zane Schreiber, the young guns stepped up to the plate to complement the likes of Mathew Leckie, Marco Tilio and Kai Trewin in 2024-25 as City captured their second Championship.
Saturday night was memorable in so many ways at AAMI Park.
The first ever Melbourne Derby in an Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final, a record crowd for a sporting event at the Melbourne venue, a spine-tingling atmosphere and City’s surge to the pinnacle of Australian football at the expense of their foes Melbourne Victory.
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The Grand Final win highlighted the universal approach at City, where their first team and academy programs are closely aligned to not only produce players and a pathway to professional football, but deliver success.
“I’m enormously invested in the academy, and I’m so proud of the boys that have come through in a lot of ways, it just gives me more joy when I see boys coming through our academy into the first team,” City’s director of football Michael Petrillo told aleagues.com.au.
“We’re not lucky. We work really hard in the academy. We spend a lot of time and effort and working with good people to produce players here that not just play A-League. We want players who are going to win Championships and be part of a Championship-winning team. I think that’s a really important aspect that can’t be overlooked.
“The Academy’s done an enormous amount of work, and credit to Simon (Zappia), the other coaches and (Alessandro) Diamanti, who’s really in that transition phase of players coming through. He’s imparted an incredible amount of knowledge from the experiences that he’s had.
“So we’re blessed to have some really good people from different levels.”
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Diamanti is currently head coach of City’s senior academy side after cementing himself as one of the Isuzu UTE A-League’s finest imports before retiring in 2022-23. It is his first coaching role since hanging up the boots at Western United,
Diamanti is working with the next crop of young players in Casey Fields, where the former Italy international has overseen an unbeaten start to the VPL1 season through 15 rounds.
More importantly, the ex-Fiorentina, Bologna, West Ham, Watford and Palermo midfielder has helped develop some of the next generation of exciting prospects, including Akeem Gerald and Beckham Baker.
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“We bought through some really good youngsters this year, but the next crop underneath are really exciting as well,” Petrillo said.
“The thing with Dia, he’s not afraid to play the youngsters a bit like (Isuzu UTE A-League head coach Aurelio Vidmar) Vid. So they’re the same mindset. If the kids are good enough to play, the young players are good enough they play.
“He’s got another three or four players coming through next year that could potentially be playing in the A-League and that’s important to keep having that pipeline of players in every age group that can step up to the plate.
“Because the reality is that when they’re playing here in two or three or four years time, if they’re doing well, they’re probably going to go overseas.
“We need to make sure that we keep producing those players that are coming up through the ranks, and Dia does an amazing job then to prepare them for the rigors of professional football, because it’s not just being a talented player.
“There’s so many other aspects, whether that be physical, mental, tactical, setting the standards, and he makes sure that no one misses the points.”
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Petrillo added: “The last 12 months has been the first period of time we’ve had the players come through from the full Academy, from the youngest ones right through. So this is only the start.
“It’s the tip of the iceberg. We’ll keep driving the standards and keep improving the quality and making sure the academy gets as close to world class as possible.
“Obviously, we’re very lucky to be part of the City Football Group, but we also had different influences of Australian football because we’re different, we can’t expect that we’re going to be like other teams around the world or clubs around the world. We’ve got to be our own. We’re going to have our own DNA, and we’ve got that as well.
“I’m really excited. The boys are coming through, and when I see them play, just as I said before, it just fills me with joy to see the kids have come through our academy. It’s just brilliant.”
