Box Hill United have sent out a statement of intent to the rest of NPL2 with the acquisition of midfielder Alex Dao from the Melbourne Knights.
The 22-year-old made a dream start to his Knights career by scoring a goal on his league debut, but struggled with injury thereafter, making a total of 16 league appearances for the club last season.
A Bulleen junior, Dao got his senior break for the Lions in 2012 under John Waddell, where he established himself as a first-team regular.
He continued with his development at David Barro Stadium in 2013, where he finished as the club’s joint top goalscorer, before attracting the attention of Joe Palatsides and Melbourne Heart.
Dao featured for the club during its 2013/14 National Youth League campaign, and also started for the senior side in a pre-season friendly victory over a Peninsula XI outfit under John Aloisi in September 2013.
After not being offered a senior contract with the rebranded Melbourne City, the midfielder returned to Bulleen and excelled once more at the club, this time under the tenure of Fabrizio Soncin.
His good form attracted the Knights, who subsequently signed him and provided the youngster with top-flight experience, as Andrew Marth’s men finished fourth on the regular season standings before being knocked out in the elimination final by a Chris Oldfield-inspired Hume City.
Despite dropping down a division, Dao expressed no reservations in joining Box Hill, a club which he has admired for many years now.
“Over the years I’ve come to plenty of Box Hill games and seen what the club is about and have been impressed how they conduct there football both on and off the park,” Dao said.
“They do their utmost to make the footballing experience as professional as possible which was an appeal to me”.
Having recently impressed for the club in a 2-2 friendly against NPL powerhouse South Melbourne, Dao is determined to put the disappointment of 2015 behind him in helping aid the club’s promotion push in the upcoming season.
“I’m very excited to play at Box Hill in 2016 with a strong squad coming together and have high hopes that the club can get promoted,” he said.
“On a personal level I hope to get a lot of games under my belt and put the niggling injuries, which hampered me throughout 2015, behind me.”
Dao’s move to Wembley Park is United’s second signing of the summer after his former Bulleen teammate and ex-Melbourne Victory Youth goalkeeper Keegan Coulter joined Greg Kassidas’ men from Nunawading City.
Box Hill United begin their 2016 NPL 2 campaign with a Monday night away trip to Kingston City on February 22.