Striker's mindset: Caputo relishes chance to grab more City minutes.

Long considered one of the A-League Men's most exciting striking prospects, Melbourne City's Max Caputo says his starting breakthrough was three years in the making - but that now he wants more.

It was a moment that, in his words, was three years in the making. And when it did finally arrive, Max Caputo probably couldn’t have realistically hoped for much more from the first two A-League Men starts of his career. But, striker’s mindset and all, he wants more, even if that has to come at the expense of his mentor Jamie Maclaren. 

On Saturday, the 18-year-old striker was the surprise pick by coach Aurelio Vidmar to lead the line as his Melbourne City upset table-topping Wellington Phoenix, perhaps unlucky not to get a goal of his own. On Tuesday, however, that goal did come, as did an assist, as City romped to a record-setting 7-0 demolition of Western Sydney Wanderers. 

Both showed a level of poise and sharpness beyond his years, the assist arriving after he showed the wherewithal to move for the byline and cross back to Leo Natel rather than zero in on the net and his goal coming when he pounced on the ball and drove it past when of the A-League Men’s best keepers in Lawrence Thomas with a first-time effort. 

“It's been three years in the making, training every day trying to get better,” he said. “Obviously, you're not going to start straightaway, you have to work your way up, especially my age as well.”

Though the youngster has previously started Asian Champions League and Australia Cup fixtures, this past week was the first time that Caputo didn’t commence an A-League Men fixture at the 19th time of asking.

The former Essendon Royals junior made his professional debut as a 15-year-old substitute during the 2020-21 season, made another 16-minute cameo during the 2021-22 campaign, and made four appearances for a total of twelve minutes in 2022-23. Along with this, he was scoring regularly as one of the prize pupils of City’s academy and was featured in The Guardian’s ‘Next Generation 2022’.

And this season, finally, in the eyes of many City fans, the minutes have begun to come. 256 of them, so far, 141 of which came in his last two starts. 

“I didn't expect to start when I was 15, 16,” said the striker. “[I was] trying to do what I can every day and learning off [Jamie Maclaren, Mat Leckie] every day on the same pitch as them at training. So you can learn a lot.”

While Caputo is one of many young strikers flashing their potential across the league this season – standing alongside Thomas Waddingham, Luka Jovanovic, and Noah Botic – his recent starts are notable in that they have come in preference to a fully fit Maclaren.

The Wellington and Wanderers fixtures marked the first time that the City skipper has started successive A-League Men games on the bench since he was a Brisbane Roar player. Since then, he’s won four straight Golden Boots and become the most prolific scorer in the competition’s history – trailing only Damien Mori for the most goals in national league history.

But amidst a form slump and a maelstrom of speculation about his future, given that he is out of contract at season’s end, Vidmar opted to move the 30-year-old to the bench to ease some of the burden and expectation on him; “when you're trying to bang your head against the wall, the wall's not gonna break down - that's where he's at the moment.”

Though it feels inevitable that Maclaren will return to the XI at some point, he broke his goal-scoring drought with an impressive touch and finish to net City’s sixth on Tuesday, Caputo has done his best to ensure that it isn’t a simple decision for his coach, looking far from overawed as he used his bigger frame to add a different look to City’s attack. 

“It shows that hard work pays off really. I've learned a lot from [Maclaren] in the last three years, being 15, 16, 17, and now 18,” Caputo said. “Trying to learn a lot from him, he's scored 151 goals. So it was a really surreal moment for me. “

“He helps me. Before both games, he's had a word to me about finding the back of the net – obviously, it's something he's good at – [Helping to settle] the nerves really because it's my first start. 

“He's a really  good role model to have in the team, especially in my position as well.”

“ It’s good to finally get some stuff under my belt ahead of him. But now yeah, he's scored again tonight.”

Moving back into the top six with their 7-0 thrashing of the Wanderers – at Western Sydney’s expense – finals football is now very much on the agenda for City, who will play four of the final games of the season against sides currently outside the top six. 

For Caputo, who this year is doing a TAFE course at his parent’s behest to give him something other than football to think about, the chance to contribute upon this stage is one of his next major goals. 

“The last couple of years I've been on the bench and the finals, haven't really played,” he explained. “It's exciting. We’ve got to keep bringing momentum into finals really, that's our main job at the moment. Bring the momentum into the finals because we want to be the team that nobody wants to play.”