Melbourne Victory is chasing the services of Daniel Arzani despite the former Socceroos prodigy having a year left on his Macarthur FC contract.
Victory’s move for the 24-year-old attacking weapon comes as the Melbourne club prepares to part ways with its skipper Josh Brillante, who is set to join Western Sydney Wanderers.
Arzani, who played for the Socceroos as a teenager at the 2018 World Cup, returned to the A-League last year to join the Bulls following the conclusion of his four-year deal with English Premier League giants Manchester City.
Arzani never played for City, who loaned him out to four clubs – Celtic (Scotland), Utrecht (the Netherlands), AGF (Denmark) and Lommel (Belgium) – during the four years.
He returned to the A-League with the hope of forcing his way back into the Socceroos squad for last year’s World Cup.
However, the former Melbourne City whiz-kid was overlooked by national coach Graham Arnold. and his season was to end prematurely in March with an ankle injury.
It’s understood Arzani trained with the Bulls on Monday, however he’s known to be keen for a move to the Tony Popovic-coached Victory side.
While Arzani looms as a potential arrival at the Victory, Brillante is understood to have flown to Sydney on Tuesday for a medical, with a Wanderers announcement expected by the end of the week
Brillante, 30, has a season to run on his lucrative Victory contract, but the Melbourne club is content to allow him to depart, despite the likelihood of still having to pay some of his wages.
The Wanderers will be Brillante’s sixth A-League club following stints at the Victory, Melbourne City, Sydney FC, Newcastle and Gold Coast United.
The Queenslander has also had spells in Italy with Fiorentina, Empoli and Como, and in Greece with Xanthi, where he was coached by Popovic.
When Popovic returned to the A-League in 2021 to take charge of Victory, he brought Brillante with him.
However, Brillante has now seemingly been made one of the scapegoats for the Victory’s poor 2022-23 campaign.
Expected to return to the Victory after parting ways with the Wanderers is left-back Adama Traore.
Popovic has also added assistant coach Arthur Diles and goalkeeper coach Davide Del Giovine to his staff.
In other news, Western United has signed former Sydney FC, Victory and Brisbane Roar defender James Donachie on a two-year deal.
“I can tell already that it will be a positive environment for me and I’m looking forward to a great season,” Donachie said.
Melbourne City also confirmed the signing of former Western United and Roar goalkeeper Jamie Young.
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