Celtic signed Australian winger Daniel Arzani on a two-year loan this summer, but the winger hasn’t featured at all in any of the matchday squads so far. The 19-year-old has also been omitted from the Europa League squad, and that took everyone by surprise as most of the people were keen to see this exciting talent in action.
Arzani was a part of the Australian World Cup squad where he made some impressive cameos, and as a result, Manchester City signed him from Melbourne City. But the Citizens decided to send him on loan straight away. The winger would have found it tough to get anywhere close to the Manchester City first team, so for his overall development, it was a good move to send him to Celtic Park. However, even in Glasgow, the youngster has found it tough.
Brendan Rodgers recently had to explain the situation about the Socceroos star. He said,”You have to remember Daniel hasn’t played 90 minutes of football, here or in Australia. This is a young player who burst onto the scene back home and was rightly regarded as a talent. Thus far, he’s very new into his life as a professional and you have to also take into fact he’s only been with us for three weeks.”
He added further,”It’s just time, he’s a talented young player and the idea with a talented young player is to go from a talent to a professional. It will be our job to manage the expectation, every young player in Australia hopes they can be the next Harry Kewell. Harry was a special talent but Daniel is a young boy who has talent, over the coming years we will see if he has the commitment to go with the quality he has.”
So Rodgers makes it pretty clear how he wants to introduce him to football in Scotland slowly. The winger is still 19, so age is on his side. Arzani has that natural flair and talent in his game as he loves taking on defenders and beating his man. The 19-year-old played a lot of street football in his initial days so one can understand why he has such sublime dribbling skills in close quarters. Arzani is still raw, and as Rodgers pointed out, he is still not ready to play 90 minutes of football at the top level. The youngster also needs to work on the physical side of his game as he runs the risk of being overpowered by big, brawny defenders in the Premiership.
One can expect him to make cameos here and there as the season wears on. There is a reason why he is on a two-year loan and not just one. He would surely be integrated slowly into the first team. Hopefully, the winger would soon be able to turn his raw talent into a finished product in the next two years at Parkhead.
