Photo: Steve Starek
Melbourne Knights have swooped to re-secure the services of winger Shayan Alinejad from Bulleen Lions, who returns to Somers Street having last featured for the club in 2014.
The 25-year-old spent a memorable four season stint at the Knights from 2011-2014, where he made 70 league appearances, scoring nine times in the process.
He was one of the standout performers for the Knights in their inaugural NPL Victoria season, where his pace and trickery down the right wing – complementing the likes of Daniel Visevic and Stipo Andrijacevic – caused headaches for opposition defences.
The peak of his stint at Knights Stadium was a memorable strike in their 2-0 win over rivals South Melbourne, which put them into the FFA Cup Round of 32 and into the national spotlight.
Alinejad was rumoured to make the move to a number of NPL2 clubs for season 2015, but instead spent time with cup-specialists South Springvale Aris in State League One under Bill Lambropoulos.
He was a part of another Cup run, which nearly saw South Springvale make it through to the National Stage for a second consecutive season, but they fell at the final hurdle in a 2-1 loss to Oakleigh Cannons, where he played the full 90 minutes in the tie.
Alinejad returned to the NPL with Bulleen Lions at the beginning of this season, where he has appeared 10 times this season without finding the back of the net.
He’ll look to provide competition to Marijan Cvitkovic – who has been occupying the right wing role – Robbie Zadworny, Jacob Colosimo and new signing Julius Davies for a starting berth in the front line, with Josh Brekalo still sidelined through injury.