The Moreland Zebras have reacted quickly to the departure of James Papadimitriou to Northcote City earlier this week, signing Rinor Muriqi from Box Hill United.
The 27 year-old forward joins Danny Gnjidic’s NPL2 West promotion-chasing outfit, having returned to Wembley Park at the beginning of the season after spending last season with Green Gully.
Born in Kosovo – then part of Yugoslavia – Muriqi is the son of Kosovo Albanian football legend Fadil Muriqi, who immigrated to Australia in the 1990s and featured for Sydney Croatia in the NSL, as well as a number of VPL sides.
Muriqi junior made his senior debut as a teenager with the Melbourne Knights in 2008 under Chris Taylor, before winning the 2009 VPL Premiership with Dandenong Thunder.
Short spells at Heidelberg United and Dandenong City followed, with his time at each club frustrated by injury as he joined Altona Magic in 2011.
There he scored 16 times in 32 games, winning the 2012 State League One Golden Boot and was a fan favourite at Paisley Park Soccer Complex.
A move to Box Hill followed in 2013, where the technically gifted Muriqi formed an effective strike partnership with Kenny Athiu before departing the club in 2015 to join Gully.
He leaves United having scored 25 times in 60 league games for the club and admits it was tough to leave the club he viewed as a second home.
“I saw Box Hill as a second home, so it was very difficult to leave the place, but on the other hand I felt the time was right to move on”, Muriqi said.
The forward is eligible to make his Zebras tomorrow as Moreland visit Dunstan Reserve to take on Brunswick City, where he will be hoping to add to his seven league goals for 2016 by scoring on debut as they look to bridge the gap on first-placed North Geelong Warriors.
Image: Sonia Licciardi