Former Premier League and A-Leagues goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen explains why the A-Leagues is the perfect move to turn Daniel Arzani’s talent to potential – but only if he’s learnt from recent experiences, as Macarthur FC prepare for Saturday’s Australia Cup final against Sydney United.
Daniel Arzani had just shown glimpses of his undoubted quality. Even in an hour of football spaced across six A-League Men matches with Melbourne City in 2016-17, the hype was real.
The next big thing in Australian football, Arzani thought he’d be in the fold come round one in 2017-18.
But head coach Warren Joyce had other ideas. In fact, Arzani wasn’t in the squad for the opening eight matches of the ALM season.
Arzani had the talent, but he was also a raw teenager who had a lot to learn.
And Thomas Sorensen could feel the youngster’s frustration.
“He had a lot of people in his ear,” former Melbourne City goalkeeper Sorensen told KEEPUP, with Macarthur due to meet Sydney United in Saturday’s Australia Cup final.
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“During that year [in 2017-18], I remember talking to him in pre-season. He had been involved in pre-season games and a couple of Cup games. He had done well in a few of them.
Then it got to the beginning of the season and he wasn’t even in the squad for the second game. Then he was totally frustrated and wanted to leave.
“Sometimes, he got lost in that process where you have to earn it. Things aren’t just given to you. Warren Joyce was quite adamant with the young guys, to teach them some lessons. Give them a little tough route, they had to earn it.
“I think Arzani found that very frustrating. I remember sitting with him and telling him he had to go with it, it’s a process. It isn’t going to happen overnight. You have the talent but it’s going to take some time and you have to prove to the manager that you’re willing to make the sacrifice and improve your game.
“I think where he struggled a little bit was with defensive work rate. He was always great when the team had the ball. I know Warren was frustrated, yes he could turn the game on its head, but he needed him to do it defensively. That’s where he was struggling.
I know as a young player, you can do everything and think, give me a chance and I’ll be the best in the world. I’ve been through it in my career and things aren’t going to come easy. I don’t think he realised it before he left for Europe, he just went there and thought he could turn up and turn on the jets and off he goes.
Patience is a virtue
Once Arzani bided his time, the breakout teenager lit up the A-Leagues.
That season, Arzani scooped the Young Footballer of the Year and PFA Harry Kewell Medal, while earning a spot in the PFA A-League Men Team of the Season.
So impressive, he was also plucked from the ALM to the Socceroos squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where he became the youngest player to represent Australia at the showpiece event and was the youngest playing in Russia.
All of this came despite completing a 90-minute match just four times throughout his 15 starts in the ALM that season.
Arzani has never lacked confidence, a fearless prodigy boasting an unpredictability Australian football has so often craved. He has the x-factor, which is why Manchester City came calling in 2018.
But he had barely scratched the surface under Joyce and for all of his youthful exuberance, he didn’t have it all his own way during the former Manchester United reserve coach’s tenure.
“He had a unique skillset. He was very explosive. He had an x-factor that he could do things on his own,” Sorensen, who retired in 2016-17 but continued to work at Melbourne City, said.
“He had that natural ability from a young age. Where he was…struggling a little bit was to convert that into the next step.
“He had always been dependent on being so much quicker and better than everyone else. Then he got to the first-team level and had some quick success, but then to take the next step that’s where he was struggling to realise he had to improve his game.”
The season prior, he had led Melbourne City to A-League National Youth League glory as he was getting his first taste of senior football.
Michael Valkanis was Melbourne City assistant that season before taking over in January 2017.
“He was easy going. I enjoyed coaching him,” Valkanis told KEEPUP. “I loved his self-belief.
Trained with a smile on his face, especially when he would do a silky move on someone…. I loved that.
“We had a good group of senior players around him to guide him. Listened and wanted to learn.”
Why it’s the perfect time to come home
Sorensen has continued to watch Arzani from afar as he bounced around in Europe.
Arzani was playing catch-up due to reasons beyond his control – a torn ACL on his Celtic debut set him back from the outset. Unsuccessful stints at FC Utrecht, AGF and Lommel.
“I think it’s good for him to come back to Australia to find his roots, not that he lacked confidence – he’s always had that – but to regain his focus,” Sorensen said.
“He probably left a little bit too early in my view. He wasn’t quite ready for it but on the other hand, you can’t fault him for taking a chance and believing in himself.
“Who knows, without the injury, he might’ve taken a different path.”
Injuries, lack of confidence and game time. Arzani’s European adventure never reached the heights he and so many had hoped for.
During his time abroad in Scotland, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium, Arzani accrued just 1,490 of playing time in league football dating back to 2018.
As Arzani found out (the hard way), it’s a different world in Europe, which former Aston Villa, Sunderland and Stoke City goalkeeper Sorensen knows all too well.
“That was some of the talk I had with him [before he left Melbourne City]; you have to learn your trade because when you go abroad, it’s not just you and a couple of others, there’s hundreds of good players,” Sorensen said.
“The defenders are better. You can’t just be a one-trick pony. You can’t just drop deep, receive the ball, go one-on-one, use your pace and do things from there. You have to work on your movement. That’s where I had my doubts when he was going abroad that he had the talent but he wasn’t quite there yet.
“Unfortunately he got that injury at Celtic so he never really had the chance to show he was ready to take the next step.
“It’s a tough environment. I’ve been there. You’re in Australia, everyone has an arm around, everyone is protecting your talent but then you get to Europe and you’re just one among many.
“People really don’t care unless you perform on the pitch. They’ll just take the next man. That would’ve been tough for him and then you get an injury and then it’s an uphill battle.”
What he needs to do
Arzani now finds himself under the watchful eye of Manchester United legend Dwight Yorke at Macarthur FC.
The early signs are promising in Campbelltown. He scored on debut for Macarthur – a 6-0 rout of Magpies Crusaders in the Australia Cup round of 32.
There is also a World Cup on the horizon and the fringe Socceroo has already been told what he must do to catapult himself back into the international mix under Graham Arnold – he has to be in the best form of his life.
But Yorke and Macarthur are taking it slow.
“We have had him now for just over four weeks,” Yorke told KEEPUP. “As you’d suspect, he’s been out of the game for a while and getting into a new surrounding, with new players and a new approach.
It takes some time but without a doubt you can see he’s a very talented boy and we’re delighted to have him.
“He’s been getting some game time with us and we are trying to integrate him back into competitive games in a very slow way because this a long haul, it’s not a quick fix.
“We have to be careful at times with how we use him but without a doubt, he’s going to be a tremendous player for us.”
This time, for Arzani, it isn’t about “the quick fix”.
“It’s all about experience. I hope he has learned from this experience. Reset and refocused,” Sorensen said.
“He has the potential to be one of the best players in the A-League and potential to go abroad like so many others.
“It seems like a great environment and it’s great to have the family around. He hasn’t had that stability for a long time. You’re by yourself, abroad, there’s a lot of alone hours and have to kill time. It’s tough.
“Hopefully it’s matured him and mental strength has gone to another level. It gives him time to think about it and what he wants to do and where he wants to end up.
The world is really his oyster if he puts the right work into it.
Sorensen added: “The talent hasn’t left him. I think it’s just getting his mind right and getting a plan in place to take the next step. Be humble about learning the trade and putting the work in if he wants to go back to Europe.
“I don’t think anyone, certainly not me, has doubted the talented. It’s just the consistency and the nuances of being a top player. You have to work, really be humble about the job. Hopefully that’s some of the things he has learned that things maybe things went too quick too easy because he had that ability.
“To reach the absolute pinnacle, you probably have to ask Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo how much they worked on their trade. They probably had the ability from an early age too but you have to fine tune it.”
