Melbourne City’s Idrus Abdulahi on track to set a new record as the youngest A-League debutant

ANOTHER star in Melbourne City’s exciting production line of talent, Idrus Abdulahi didn’t get the chance to set a new A-League record last week. But the 15-year-old isn’t far off.

Idrus Abdulahi, 15, has 180 days to become the A-League's youngest ever debutant.

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WHILE most teenagers would be overawed when told of a maiden senior call-up, Idrus Abdulahi was so relaxed he sent Melbourne City into mild panic.

Abdulahi, who turned 15 a month ago, set about his usual plan of catching public transport to soccer when he got the selection call last Saturday morning.

The Year 9 Maribyrnong College student and his family have faced many challenges as Ethiopian refugees, hence Abdulahi has learnt to independence from a young age.

Idrus Abdulahi, 15, has 180 days to become the A-League's youngest ever debutant.

Melbourne’s notoriously unreliable public transport system, coupled with school commitments, have meant that Abdulahi has had several races against the clock to get to training on time.

And with visions of Abdulahi racing from a tram at Southern Cross station to the Marvel Stadium changerooms for last Saturday’s derby season opener, concerned City officials deployed third keeper Majak Mawith to pick him up.

While the exciting attacking midfielder didn’t come on, Abdulahi still has 180 days to beat the record of Adelaide United’s Teeboy Kamara as the youngest A-League debutant.

With City and Maribyrnong College — a noted soccer school — enabling Abdulahi to train with the first team in recent weeks, including Tuesday, where he is said to have again impressed, he is every chance of creating A-League history.

Former Adelaide player Teeboy Kamara still holds the record.

“He did fantastically well all week and been one of the best players of the people that trained with us so he got there (on the bench) on what he did during raining,’’ City coach Warren Joyce said.

“Before (Nathaniel) Atkinson went away (with the Young Socceroos) he was playing directly against Idris in a night session, down on the bottom pitches and it was competitive.

“You want to test him as a 14-year-old against Atkinson and he gave Atkinson a kick up the backside because Idris came out on top that night.

“We’ve got seven or eight players (away). It’s a fantastic experience for him to be involved. The comment was from the players out there (last Saturday), you’ve only got two arms, two legs.

“Bruce Kamau holds the record for a six-minute run at our place and Idris can beat him. So age is irrelevant for me, whether they’re 15 or 35, it’s what they do on the training ground, what they do on the pitch.

“You’ve got to have respect (for the elders), but not too much respect. And if it comes down to individual battles, you’ve got to be capable of winning it and he’s capable of doing that against men.”

City coach Warren Joyce has plenty of talent coming through. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)

Abdulahi is another feather in the cap of City’s wonderful production line, which has seven players with Ante Milicic’s Young Socceroos at the Asian U19 Championships in Indonesia.

Joyce admitted it will get competitive as the season.

“There’s men well in front of him, and there’s guys playing for Australia well in front of him. But he played a part (last week) in helping the team prepare for (the derby),’’ he said.

“All the way through we’ve brought lads up and down and even last year (Daniel) Arzani went and trained with them a few times of a night-time. You mix it up because you want mixed age groups, you want people to come through together, you want them to build relationships.”

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