Season 2024 has come and gone for our Senior Academy team, Alessandro Diamanti’s side finishing the season a very respectable 5th on the table.
A constant theme of City’s Academy over the years has been players playing up an age group to accelerate their development, and that was no different this season with players as young as 14 getting a chance to play at VPL1 level.
Continuing to challenge the young talent in our Academy, City constantly fielded the youngest team across the competition with an average age of just 17.6 in our VPL1 Senior Squad and 16.4 in our U23s.
We reflect on and break down the season by answering five key questions!
HOW DID THE CLUB VIEW 2024?
Commenting on the 2024 season, Senior Academy Manager, Simon Zappia, was quick to praise the efforts of all players and staff across the Academy.
“It has been a hugely successful year for our senior Academy groups,” Zappia said.
“The coaches and support staff have worked extremely hard in preparing the players for the next step and we’ve seen some fantastic results with five players from our Academy signing their first A-League contracts.”
Highlighting the Player Development Pathway on offer at City, four of those players have transitioned through each age group in Academy after joining the Club at 12 years old.
Jayden Necovski, Lawrence Wong and Peter Antoniou even began that journey a step earlier in the City Football Schools programs, becoming the first of many expected to complete the full Player Development Pathway in the years to come.
Zappia pointed to those success stories as a ‘key measure’ for the Club’s Academy.
“Transitioning players through our Academy to ready them for a long career at the professional level is always our number one goal.
Simon Zappia – Melbourne City FC Senior Academy Manager
“We knew with the deliberate challenges we put on the players in the early parts of this season that we would see the benefits come later in the year, and we’ve certainly seen that.
“Alessandro, with his wealth of experience, has put a key emphasis on preparing the players for the next step and we’re excited to see a lot of these boys flourish in the A-League Men’s set-up this coming season.”
HOW DID THE YEAR PAN OUT?
February saw a large group of our Senior Academy squad make their way to Italy for an invaluable tour, playing in the Viareggio Cup and facing multiple Serie A academy squads.
That trip also coincided with the beginning of the VPL1 season, which meant a large chunk of the squad missed the early rounds.
Unsurprisingly, a slow start to the season followed with the majority of our teams put out on the pitch facing the huge challenge of playing against men for the first time – but performing admirably in doing so.
After taking a respectable two points from the first three games, City broke through for a first win of the season away to Brunswick in Round 4 – goals to Marcus Humbert, Ryan Kalms and Peter Antoniou securing a come-from-behind win.
The next block of the season proved to be the most challenging, a mixture of injuries, international duty and overseas tours meaning plenty of first-choice players weren’t available for selection.
A run of seven games without a win was broken at home against Eastern Lions in Round 12 as an Arion Sulemani double sparked a three-game win streak.
Medin Memeti took the headlines across the following two wins against North Geelong and Caroline Springs, finding the back of the net three times in the fortnight.
Diamanti’s side continued the unbeaten run for another month, splitting the next four games two draws and two wins apiece.
A late comeback from Bulleen on a Round 19 Monday night saw that streak come to an end after Sulemani earlier struck in the first half.
It marked our final loss of the season as the boys stormed their way home, winning five of their final seven fixtures to end 2024 on 41 points and an impressive fifth on the table.
A 3-0 away win to Preston Lions on a cold Friday night was the pick of the wins throughout the year, our young talent (with an average age on the night of less than 17) standing up on the big stage against a hungry opposition desperate to seal promotion.
Kavian Rahmani got his name on the scoresheet that night and finished the year in blistering form – scoring four goals across our final three games to end the season with seven goals to go along with a team-high eight assists.
WHO MADE THEIR MARK?
Four Academy graduates immediately come to mind as clear standouts this season.
Memeti, Antoniou, Necovski, and Wong all started their season in the U23s and by the end of it, had signed A-League Men’s Scholarship contracts.
In our A-League Men’s team’s only competitive hit out to date this campaign – the Australia Cup Round of 32 – both Memeti and Wong featured off the bench, offering City fans a glimpse to the future.
Humbert was the only player to feature in every VPL1 match and notched up five goal contributions, while Kalms in defence and Xavier Stella further up the pitch both took big strides forward in their development.
Although he was stuck behind ALM-contracted goalkeepers James Nieuwenhuizen and Patrick Beach in the early parts of the season, 17-year-old shotstopper, Lachie Charles, made the number 1 spot his own in the second half of the campaign through his strong performances.
HOW DID OUR ALM PLAYERS PERFORM?
While not featuring for the entirety of the VPL1 season to ensure they received an adequate break between A-League campaigns, several first-team players were seen throughout different parts of the year.
Set to fight it out for the starting striker spot at senior level in season 2024/25, Max Caputo (five appearances) and Sulemani (14) both got some valuable minutes into their legs.
Sulemani took huge strides forward in his return from an ACL injury sustained last year to bang in seven goals, while Caputo hit the back of the net three times in his limited appearances.
Emin Durakovic made 13 appearances and contributed nine goals (two goals and seven assists), while Harry Politidis, Zane Schreiber, Ben Mazzeo and Ale Lopane all featured on a handful of occasions.
(Image: Ethan Wright)
WHO SHOULD WE KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR IN 2025?
Joseph De Los Santos Myles finished the season in blistering form after spending most of the season in the U23s. He took his opportunity when it came late on in the campaign to fire home four goals, starting each of our final six games.
As highlighted recently by aleagues.com.au, Mikey Ghossaini had a brilliant campaign with the U23s – netting 22 goals in just 17 games to tie for the league Golden Boot. He also made five appearances at VPL1 level and having recently begun regular training with the first team, looks every bit a player to keep an eye on in the years to come.
Although he featured mostly for the U23s, Aaron Cartwright was involved with our Senior Academy team three times early in the season.
It was on the international stage though where he flourished the most, representing New Zealand at the recent OFC U16 Championship where he brought home both the Golden Boot and Golden Ball.
