It's clear that no one in Europe has clue according to you fanboys on here, How many games has he played in his whole carrer to date ?

A manager saying that about a young player returning from an acl is pretty poor class

hope he comes back and lights up the a league

Tranfermarkt claims Panos has had a total of 8 mins on the park...... Happy if that's wrong.

From 2016 when he burst onto the AL scene, he has had 37 appearance with 3 goals and 5 assists, don’t let those Eurosnob European coaches tell you otherwise, in straya he is the Aussie Iranian messi

My thoughts exactly 

Brutal comment but it shows where he’s development is that if he isn’t good enough for a mid tier Eredivisie side.

Just shows how bloody important game time is for young players regardless of the supreme talent you have, ACL injury aside he’s really missed a good chunk of his development by not playing regularly in the last 18-24 months.

Maybe it’s a lesson learned not only not to over hype young talents but also how much behind our players when it comes to playing time at those crucial ages from 18-22 compared to our counterparts.
If not playing regularly at that age(s) regardless if it’s the aleague or Europe then you have little to no hope in progressing your game.

Forget 1 or 2 years of aleague football, based on the amount of games available here they need at 3 to 5 seasons here like Mooy, Ryan have done to have a any sort of a good projectory.
Alot of these young guys leave to too early and barely develop enough from their previous level and that’s been the main problem for Aussie youth prospects for a long time.

Sadly another example.

I should also add aleague clubs have to do a much better job in retaining a our best young talent for longer too and prioritise thier overall development which rarely has been the case...

Valid point. It could have been put a bit more diplomatically, though. But maybe Dutch directness 🤷🏻‍♂️?

As regards the emboldened text, the North Americans left at younger ages and have done just fine; e.g. Christian Pulisic and Giovanni Reyna. The too soon argument doesn’t stand up, imo.

But agree wrong club

Sad as I was excited for him and was happy to see his debut in St Pölten but it is clear as day light that this kid is cooked and isn't going good enough to make it anymore.

I have always preferred to look at the likes of Viduka and Emerton as better examples for talented young Aussies. Emerton, 94 games for Sydney Olympic and Viduka 48 games for Melbourne Knights, the latter with a truckload of goals. Both left as young but experienced professionals. They then established themselves in mid-tier competitions before getting to the EPL, again taking several seasons to do so. Arzani was well worth the hype and his World Cup cameos proved it but at that stage many of us said, back then at the time, come back and dominate the A-League. Play one or two seasons, get week in, week out action, play for the Socceroos, and take all these games by the scruff of the neck over a decent period. The Viduka/Emerton pathway, in other words. Because of the way the game is here, only the very rare freak from Australia will go at a young age (young by our standards) and kick off a very good career in Europe. The default advice should be: “stay here son, prove yourself here over two or three seasons, and if you really are good enough, do the hard work here first and dominate. The game isn’t going anywhere for the genuinely gifted”!

His major mistake was moving to Man City. Too soon and wrong club. Then to be loaned out where player development is low priority for players on loan, those clubs want immediate results. Such a shame as he was easily our most impressive young player 3 years ago. Hopefully he’ll find an ALeague club to give him a chance as another 12 months of this current trajectory and its career over.

I think his major mistake was going overseas when he did with not enough professional games under his belt. Arzani should now be the example everyone points to when advising promising young Australian players what to do next. “Stay here, work harder, dominate”.
This said, I very much want Arzani to come back and do a Mooy. I hope this happens and we see him within weeks back at an A-League club.

True. Now about 14 minutes and a goal.;)
 Not great but seeing though his deal with Zulte was an emergency situation (his last team financially collapsed at start of season) hopefully this is the start of bigger and better things. hopefully his goal overnight will now get him more regular minutes or a loan to another club this window. 

Arzani still in Senior squad for Utrecht this morning in 2-0 win. Strange even to be on bench after coach publicly grilled him

https://www.sportingnews.com/au/football/news/melbourne-city-open-to-arzani-return-with-utrecht-exit-looming/1atl65rje2iv8zk1rcw0g5fwq

Melb City open to Arzani return 

Good, I hope it happens sooner rather than later. Decisions need to be made very quickly because there are many hurdles before he can even be sitting on an A-League bench, or this season will be lost entirely. One big hurdle will be getting a seat on a plane to return to Australia in the next month or two, then quarantining!

I'm gonna be totally honest, Arzani isn't any better than any other player currently coming through at similar academies to Utrecht, who clearly have a lot of similar players (and much younger) to Arzani. 

He has to come back home and focus on playing week in week out (and dominate) if he is to completely catapult himself back into top 5 league contention again.

Yeah he did not hold back.

Those comments make it sound not just a talent thing but a commitment or work ethic thing. 

Yeah it wouldn't take too much reading between the lines to come to that conclusion.

If it’s a work ethic thing, how did he get game time in 4 matches under original coach Van den Brom? Maybe some personality clashes or something? Who knows.

Oh for sure, I should have meant it was the coach's impression of his work ethic that was the issue, not that his view was justified.

Back to the A-League, play with the Socceroos regularly and stick it up the Neverwinlands in the World Cup.

https://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/he-hasn-t-been-given-a-dog-s-chance-meulensteen-blasts-utrecht-treatment-of-outcast-arzani

Have to appreciate Meulensteen going into bat for our players. Of course it's one person's opinion and it's a game of opinions but Meulensteen can generally call it in the right direction. 

Saw a post elsewhere and it's true that our players ought to gather around 100 A League games before making the riskier jumps. 

Whenever I’ve seen Rene Hake speak in an interview, he reminds me of a robotic soldier or assassin that has no emotion or flexibility whatsoever. If he doesn’t like you- for any reason- you’re very fucked 🥵

His body was nowhere near ready for senior football either. I remember the first handful of games he started for Melbourne city, he was subbed off around the 60-70th min mark with severe cramps. 

At basically the same age goetze hit the winning goal in a WC final. Not making comparison really but he’s not so young now. 

The difference is these guys left and got game time. Leaving young is fine if you play, in most cases its actually better than if you stayed. Our problem has been that players go to Europe young and then dont play, which stifles their development. Its why in most cases you are better off staying and getting game time and going across a bit older at 21 - 22.

There will always be exceptions, and unfortunately every player will think they are the exception which is our issue

100% this. Every player thinks they’re special and the exception.