Eight months since injuring his ACL on debut for Celtic, Australian attacker Daniel Arzani is determined to leave a more lasting impression in Scotland.
Originally joining the Hoops on a two-season loan from Manchester City, the departure of former Celtic coach Brendan Rodgers has cast some doubt over where Arzani will spend next season but the 20-year-old says he'll '110 per cent' be playing for the Scottish champions.
Speaking on the Fox Football Podcast, Arzani revealed he's eager to live up to his significant hype next season as he approaches full fitness.
"I’ve set my eyes on next season being a big one for me," Arzani said.
"A lot of people have been saying I have potential…but at the end of the day there’s still a lot unproven.
"Right now my main focus is just getting back from this ACL injury and feeling good.
"For me (Rodgers' departure) doesn’t change anything. It was a challenge for me to play under Brendan Rodgers at the beginning - his mindset was to have his attackers defend a lot.
"It’s not an easy team to break into."
While his first season with Celtic ended with Arzani stuck on the sidelines, he has no regrets about making the move to Scotland after breaking out with Melbourne City.
The Socceroo did however stress that other young Aussies shouldn't dismiss the A-League as a stepping stone.
"Obviously I hadn’t played a lot of games before I went away but I also felt like I had achieved as much as I wanted to achieve in the league there," Arzani said.
"Not achieve maybe, but I felt like if I had a really good season the next year I’d be in the same position as I was.
"I see a lot of young players now saying ‘I can’t get game time in the A-League, I’m gonna go overseas’ but if you can’t play in the A-League what are you going to do over there.
"When I was coming out of the AIS I had a lot of offers to go overseas...we went to Man City....Schalke, Ajax. It was never really a decision for me as I wanted to break into the A-League first."
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