Speaking with FourFourTwo Australia magazine, the 18-year old said his body was basically “broken” upon returning from the U20 World Cup in Colombia last August.

He’d been on anti-inflammatory injections throughout the FIFA tournament as he struggled to find the sparkling form of his debut A-League season.

And his return to the Mariners – the club who sold him to German club Borussia Dortmund earlier this year but had him loaned back for a season - was delayed to allow him to completely return to full fitness.

“I never had any time off for two years,” he told FourFourTwo magazine. “I had a month off so I could get back to where I was before.

“But when I came back it wasn’t working for me. I was still sore so I eventually did rehab and prehab work with my groin strengthening it.

“Eventually I got back to training one-on-one and I stepped up a level in training after missing the first four rounds.

“It’s just been a lot of work but it’s starting to pay-off.”

For Amini this season is set to include the A-League till next April and an ACL group stage campaign taking him up to May before he heads back to Germany to start his new career in Dortmund.

And his form in recent weeks suggests the pint-sized playmaker’s time off has been well spent with some eye-catching performances, particularly against Adelaide last weekend. 

Outgoing national youth coach Jan Versleijen says Amini has areas of his game to improve. But he hailed the evolving Australian identification system that could’ve easily ignored the Sydney-born playmaker a few years ago.

“With all the changes now with identifying players, how to look at players and what kinds of things you’re looking at and the tools you need,” Versleijen told au.fourfourtwo.com.

“I think Musti wouldn’t have had any chance say five or six years ago to get into the system because he wasn’t fast enough, he was too small.

“Now we are looking at the awareness and the technical skills and if you look at Musti his awareness is fantastic and feelings to get into positions and a very good feeling about how to protect the ball.

“He has to add some things to his game to become a better player but for his age, he’s quite good. There is a saying it’s not that important how fast you are but it’s more important if you are at the right moment at the right position.”

Meanwhile the Mariners have added spice to the F3 derby by sending their club mascot ‘Marvin’ into enemy territory.

He visited Newcastle on Tuesday and also sought to remind Jets fans - and create some friendly pre-match banter - that the yellow and navy have been consistently better than the Novocastrians over the course of the seven seasons of the A-League.

Sticking posters around the city, Marvin highlighted the all-time A-League points ladder which shows Central Coast well ahead of their northern foes, and offered some added talking points heading into the battle at Bluetongue.

And like Marvin, Amini has got the Jets in his sights in this weekend’s intriguing F3 derby.

The Mariners are in second spot on the A-League ladder with 17 points while the Jets are four points in fourth. 

“I know some of their boys and played against them in F3 derbies [before]. It should be a tough game, it’s a derby and you’re always challenged and it’ll be a fight," said Amini. 

“But hopefully we come up with a win. We’ve been working hard in training and that’s starting to pay off.

“After having a slow start –which was good – hopefully we can keep this run going. And for me, playing at the top of the diamond is where they like me to play...”

For the full interview with Amini for the “Mini Maestros” feature, check out an upcoming issue of FourFourTwo Australia magazine.

Follow me on Twitter @Aidothejourno