Mohamed Al-Taay

DOB 15/6/00

Mohamed Al-Taay joined the Phoenix for the start of pre-season training in July 2023 after signing a two-year deal with the club.

The ball-winning midfielder played for the Newcastle Jets for the previous two seasons, making 30 appearances across all competitions after being Western Sydney Wanderers’ youth player of the year in 2020.

Mohamed Al-Taay made 17 appearances for the Jets in the 2022-23 A-League, 10 of which were as a substitute.

Four of his seven starts came during Newcastle’s best run of the season in January and February, when they put together a six-match unbeaten run.

Al-Taay grew up in Campbelltown in south-west Sydney and played his junior football at Blacktown City, when Giancarlo Italiano was the club’s head of football.

Italiano likened him to former Phoenix midfielder Cameron Devlin when he signed for the Nix.

> 2023-24 season

Mohamed Al-Taay’s debut season in Wellington saw him heavily featured, starting 17 games and coming off the bench in another 10.

He was a key member of the Phoenix midfield alongside Alex Rufer and Nicholas Pennington. He also spent time filling in at right back when Tim Payne was unavailable.

Al-Taay added an assist to his industrious midfield work.

It was comfortably Al-Taay’s most involved season as a pro, almost matching his appearance tally from the previous two A-League seasons combined.