Socceroo Arzani's 'Group of Opportunity' to reignite his career

Socceroos prodigy Daniel Arzani revealed the humorous the way Graham Arnold informed him of his Olyroos place for the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Arzani had been under an injury cloud for much of the year, and had failed to break into the Eredivisie with Utrecht, and then the Superliga with AGF.

The 22-year-old has long been held aloft as the most talented young player in Australian football, but his recent problems were recognised when Arnold overlooked him for the Socceroos' World Cup qualifiers, sending him to Marbella with the Olyroos instead.

He then played two electric matches with the Olyroos during their friendly series, clearly showing he was a class in confidence above many of his teammates and opposition, locking his place in the Tokyo games.

"For me honestly it is such a special feeling – for me and for my family," Arzani told My Football.

"I am really proud to be Australian and to be able to represent Australia at the Olympics, that is something in and of itself that is just so special, and it’s a joy really."

"It was kind of impromptu," he continued.

"We were just having a little player meeting with Arnie and he kind of just sprung it on us and all the boys that are here in Dubai. He said to us ‘obviously you guys are in the squad’. and we said ‘woah, wait a second, we didn’t know we were in’.

"It was good, I was buzzing, and my family was buzzing when they heard the news as well."

The Olyroos will now face Egypt, Argentina and Spain with only one experienced Socceroo over the age of 24, Mitch Duke, and he only has nine caps.

But given the small chance of Olyroos progression, Australia's biggest Olympic chance lies in the opportunity to showcase the nation's best young talent on the world's biggest stage, against the world's best teams.

It's no wonder Arzani sees it in a similar frame of mind, with the Australian now returning to Manchester City to secure his fourth loan since joining the English Premier League giants.

He's all but been ruled out already from an A-League return, but with the 2022 World Cup on the horizon and a huge amount of young talent bursting their way into the Socceroos, his next move will undoubtedly be the most crucial of his career.

"I saw in the media that he (Arnold) called it the ‘Group of Dreams’," said Arzani. "For me, I think it is the ‘Group of Opportunity’," Arzani said.

"I think as a national team and as a country we have so much to offer but we also have so much to prove, and I can’t wait to go out there and do it on a world stage.

"For me the single greatest Olympics memory that I have is of Usain Bolt doing the clean sweep, I think it was the 100-metres, the 200, and the 400, and he just annihilated the competition.

"That was something to see, that’s for sure."