The 21-year-old winger, who is on loan at Danish club AGF Aarhus from Lazio, opened his account in Denmark with a strike in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to AaB.

The six-time Socceroo is embarking on his maiden full season of first-team European football with AGF, having spent six months on loan with Serie B club Salernitana last term.

Ikonomidis didn’t take a holiday during the two-month Danish winter break and opted to stay with AGF despite being called into a Young Socceroos training squad in January.

The Sydney-born maintained a strong level of fitness in Denmark, before his progress was halted in the club’s training camp in Portugal at the start of February.

Ikonomidis suffered a groin muscle injury in a 3-0 friendly loss to Croatian club Rijeka on during the camp.

He returned by coming off the bench against AaB and sweeping home the equaliser in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat.

“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Ikonomidis told AGF TV.

“I’m really happy to be back in full shape.

“I had a slight muscular injury in Portugal, but I worked very hard to get over that and I’m feeling really good now.

“If you don’t look at the result, I’m happy I could have an impact on the match by scoring a goal.”

Ikonomidis missed the final cut for the Socceroos’ previous squad for the World Cup qualifier away to Thailand in November.

Australia coach Ange Postecoglou is expected to name his latest squad next week for the next month’s qualifiers against Iraq and March.

Tom Rogic has been ruled out of that squad due to an ankle complaint, while winger Craig Goodwin has battled injuries in recent months too, potentially opening the door for Ikonomidis.

Meanwhile, the youngster’s side have a battle to avoid relegation, sitting 11th in the 14-team Superliga after 22 rounds.

Speaking about the weekend’s defeat, he added: “It’s a disappointing result for the team. We would’ve wanted more from that match.

“We just need a bit of confidence and luck sometimes in football.”

 

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