Nabbout reveals huge reason for coming home to Melbourne Victory

There is a big reason why soon-to-be dad Andrew Nabbout felt compelled to return to hometown club Melbourne Victory.

The 26-year-old Australian striker has just spent 16 months in one of Asia's most unforgiving competitions, on the books of J-League heavyweights Urawa Red Diamonds.

Now back at the club who gave him his Hyundai A-League debut in 2012, Nabbout believes coming home will help solidify his position as a key attacking weapon for the Caltex Socceroos.

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"I chatted with [Caltex Socceroos coach Graham Arnold] him a couple of times over the past few weeks to explain why I wasn't playing [for Urawa]," he said.

"He wants us to play, he wants us to be getting game time no matter where it is."

Nabbout
'I’d like to think I’m a little bit better technically', says Nabbout of how the J-League has changed him as a player

Nabbout had a difficult choice to make at the Japanese heavyweights: adapt his game or be left in the cold.

It is why he believes he is back in the Hyundai A-League a more rounded forward.

“I’d like to think I’m a little bit better technically,” Nabbout told reporters on Wednesday, his first press conference since being unveiled on a one-year contract last week.

“It’s always tough going to a country like that where you know it’s a very technical league.

"And I’m a very physical player, I rely a lot on my power and my pressing and running in behind.

“You had to rise to a level over there that was going to keep you in the squad and the Japanese are very technically gifted. It was my job to adapt and rise to that level and I’d like to think that I have and I’m going to try to bring that back here and do as well as I can."

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Nabbout earned a move to Urawa in March last year following two superb seasons with Newcastle Jets, form which also saw him picked to lead the line for the Caltex Socceroos at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The Melbourne-born forward has been hampered by injuries after dislocating his shoulder against Denmark in the World Cup and found first-team opportunities scarce at the end of his tenure in Japan.

He is expecting his first child with his partner in November and is set to face former employers Newcastle in next Wednesday’s FFA Cup clash, a match that doubles as new Victory boss Marco Kurz’s first match in charge of the four-time Hyundai A-League Champions.

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