Arzani ready to fire back for Socceroos
FORMER Celtic loanee Daniel Arzani appears to have finally put his injury hell behind him as he gets set to return to the Australia team.
Arzani, 22, was one of the brightest prospects around when Manchester City signed up the striker from affiliate club Melbourne City in 2018.
He had just made three appearances at the World Cup – the youngest player at Russia that same summer and the youngest to play for Australia at the tournament.
He was given his international debut by Ange Postecoglou’s successor Bert van Marwijk and was tipped for big things on the world stage.
But a loan to Celtic followed where injury swallowed up almost two seasons of his career.
Arzani managed just two appearances at Parkhead in 2018-19 and 2019-20 and has since spent time at Utrecht and Aarhus, where injuries again limited his game-time. But he finally found some stability on loan at Lommel SK in the Belgian second tier.
He has now been drafted into the Australia squad and could feature against Vietnam on Tuesday, with Hibs star Martin Boyle an injury doubt.
Socceroos boss Graham Arnold said: “He’s such a great kid, such a beautiful kid, and I’m just here to support him and the rest of the players.
“We have a lot of conversations. What’s important for me is that he fulfils his potential. He’s still got time to do that.
“The kid’s had a tough last couple of years but I’m 100 per cent sure he’ll bounce back and get that career back on track.”