Western United’s new star striker Aleksandar Prijovic has arrived in Melbourne and joined his new teammates for the first time this week.
The 31-year-old signed for the Club earlier this month, coming from Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia where he spent two seasons.
Addressing the media on his second day at the club, Prijovic said he is excited about the Western United project and the opportunities it will bring.
“Here it was the whole package, the whole situation that it’s a new club, that we can do something big, build up something from the beginning. This was for me a motivation to join this team.”
Prijovic has been in career-best form in the last few years, winning the golden boot award in Greece in 2018 before lifting the Greek Super League title a year later with PAOK Thessaloniki.
With almost 150 goals in around 400 games of professional club football, the Serbian describes himself as:
“A finisher in the box. That’s my zone, that’s where I’m dangerous. I think my body is also a plus, building up and holding up the ball, headers. For a striker, in my case, these are good abilities to harm the opponent.”
Prijovic was able to end his quarantine period after seven days due to the change in international travel guidelines and has been out on the pitch for the first time in preparation for the season ahead.
While his family will arrive in a few weeks, the Serbian international is getting to work and is hopeful of playing a part in the season opener against Melbourne Victory.
“I’m very motivated to catch up the rhythm and get used to the team and to start the season,” he said.
“I haven’t trained for a couple of months with a team, so I’m going to need some time to get used to this. But it’s not a long period that I need, so hopefully for the first game I’ll be ready to help my team.”
Prijovic has become familiar with the A-League by watching videos in anticipation of his arrival at Western United, and he will come into replace one of the league’s best strikers.
With Besart Berisha departing in the off-season, Prijovic will step into his shoes but he said he will feel no pressure from anyone to follow in another player’s footsteps.
“I’m very motivated, I put enough pressure on myself all my life as a professional football player, wanting to score goals always and winning trophies,” he said.
“I’ve been doing pretty well in that so far, I believe I will do much better, and I’m somebody that works hard and wants to compete and grow and be better from day to day.
“I’m highly motivated and I’m in my best years as a striker, so I’m not worried too much about that.”
Upcoming pre-season friendlies will likely come too early for Prijovic to be involved, but United’s new talisman is set for a big A-League Men’s season ahead.
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