A “selfish” John Aloisi needs goal-machine Jamie Maclaren to play out his profession within the A-League slightly than once more check himself at an abroad membership.
Aloisi’s Western United has the powerful activity of shutting down the Melbourne City marksman in Saturday night time’s grand ultimate rematch at AAMI Park.
Maclaren final Monday turned the primary participant in A-League historical past to attain in 9 successive matches when he netted a double in City’s 3-1 away win over Wellington Phoenix.
His double took his total A-League objectives tally to 132 in simply 185 appearances.
Former United, Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar ace Besart Berisha’s A-League report objectives whole of 142 is effectively and actually within the sights of Maclaren, who has already scored 12 instances in 9 appearances this season to be on track for his fifth golden boot.
Once Maclaren surpasses Berisha, the query might be raised about what extra he can obtain within the A-League.
At 29, he’s nonetheless in his prime and if he does need one other shot at succeeding abroad, he’ll most likely want to maneuver sooner slightly than later.
Maclaren spent a part of his youth profession at English membership Blackburn Rovers and later had restricted success throughout spells with Darmstadt 98 (Germany) and Hibernian (Scotland).
But Socceroos nice Aloisi, who coached Maclaren on the Roar, stated his former participant didn’t should show himself abroad and hoped he remained within the A-League indefinitely.
“I’m not sure what his ambitions are or what his goals are, but … I’m being a little bit selfish here … I’d love for him to stay in the A-League because it’s great for the league and you need as many good players in the league as possible, and he’s definitely one of the best strikers, if not the best striker that we’ve ever had in the A-League,” Aloisi stated.
“If he stays here, I’m sure that he will .. set a new high (for goals scored) that no one can ever break.
“That might be the way he’s looking at it. It’s hard to say what someone else’s goals are, but he’s definitely shown what he’s capable of doing and he’s shown it for a number of years now, not just this season.”
Maclaren, who has greater than a yr to run on his profitable City deal, appears in no rush to return to an abroad membership, regardless of not completely ruling it out.
“I’m aware that in (the) January (transfer window) people are always going to say that there are rumours and that there’s interest (from other clubs), but if it doesn’t suit myself, or it doesn’t suit Melbourne City, then you’ll see me in the light blue shirt for more than a few years,” the Socceroos attacker stated.
“I’m not really thinking about leaving this club in the short term. I’ve got this season and next season to worry about; my head is just down in the short term.
“I’m thinking about (Saturday) night, going out there and trying to get the three points against a resurgent Western United, whose former boss of mine, John Aloisi, will always try to stop me, which he’s done well on a couple of occasions.”
Aloisi stated United’s defence wanted to be “switched on for every second” of Saturday night time’s match to nullify Maclaren.
“Even when you feel that he’s not involved, he’s moving. He’s always on the move, he’s always looking to see where he can receive the ball to score goals – he’s a great striker,” the United coach stated.
“I was lucky enough to coach him, so I know him really well as a player, and as a person, and I loved working with him and it’s always difficult to coach against him, believe me. He’s one of those players who don’t give the centre-backs a rest.
“The main message for our centre-backs is just to be alive the whole time because ‘Macca’ is there, (and) he’s ready to pounce.
“If we can do that, then hopefully we can shut him out, but it’s never easy against him.”
Originally revealed as Socceroos nice requires Melbourne City star to stay in A-League
