Introduction
Jamie Maclaren (born 29 July 1993) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a striker for A-League club Brisbane Roar FC. Maclaren initially represented Scotland at youth level, but has since appeared for Australia at both youth and senior international level.
Club career
Blackburn Rovers
Jamie Maclaren grew up in the north-western suburbs of Melbourne. He first joined the junior side of local team Sunbury United at the early age of four or five, then switched to the youth ranks of nearby Victorian Premier League (now National Premier Leagues Victoria) side Green Gully in 2003, where although he continued to play against older players, his team was very successful, at one point winning around 50 games in a row. In July 2009, aged 15, he was invited to trial for Blackburn Rovers' under-16 squad. In his first trial match he scored two goals against Derby County's under-16 squad, followed by a hat-trick against Manchester United, which resulted in a contract offer from Rovers.
Maclaren benefited from the mentorship of fellow Australians Vince Grella and Brett Emerton at Blackburn, where he soon progressed to be a regular under-21 squad player and training with the senior team. However, after four years in England having not broken into the first team, he was released by Rovers at the end of the 2012–13 season.
Perth Glory
Seeking first-team game time, Maclaren elected to return to Australia and signed a three-year contract with A-League club Perth Glory at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. Maclaren made his Perth Glory debut, where he played 90 minutes, in a 3-1 loss against Adelaide United. Maclaren then scored his first goal for Perth Glory weeks later, on 27 October 2013, in a 1-0 win over Melbourne City and scored his second Perth Glory goal on 23 November 2013
The 2014–15 season was his breakout year, scoring 10 goals in 23 appearances across all competitions, and earning the April nomination for the league's young player of the year award. He also made a number of appearances in the National Premier Leagues side scoring 11 goals in just five games. Maclaren scored his first senior club hat-trick, scoring all three of Glory's goals in a 3–1 win against Melbourne City on 19 April 2015.
At the end of the 2014–15 season, in the fallout from the Perth Glory salary cap scandal, Glory agreed to release all contracted players who wished to leave the club, with the sole exception of Maclaren. In response, he lodged a formal breach-of-contract notice against Perth Glory to the players' Union, Professional Footballers Australia. Maclaren was subsequently released by Glory on 29 June 2015.
Brisbane Roar
During the A-League off-season, on 5 July 2015, Brisbane Roar signed Maclaren to a two-year deal.
Maclaren made his debut with the Roar against the Western Sydney Wanderers on 8 October 2015. In the same game, he scored a brace for the Roar, with goals in the 9th and 34th minutes of the match. Later that season Maclaren reached his 50th senior A-League appearance, scoring a goal and assisting another against his former club, Perth Glory. He scored his second senior club hat-trick in a win against Melbourne Victory on 12 March 2016.
Maclaren finished the A-League regular season with 18 goals, second in the Golden Boot race to Melbourne City's Uruguayan striker Bruno Fornaroli, however his season tally was enough to become the all-time A-League record for an Australian player. Maclaren scored two more goals in the finals series to make his final club goal count 20 from 25 games. At the end of the 2015–16 season, he was awarded as the Young Player of the Year by the FFA.
During the big break, it was to believe that one of the clubs from the top 5 European league had made a bid for Maclaren which he turned down. It was to believe the bid came from 1.FSV Mainz 05.
International career
His International career first started when he was called up for Scotland under-19 because of dual citizenship, his father Donald having been born in Scotland. He received two caps playing against Denmark and Norway. Jamie Maclaren was also a part of the Australian under-20 squad, and scored a goal against the hosts Turkey in the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup.
Maclaren joined the Australian under-23 team, the Olyroos, for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship qualification Group F games held in Taiwan in March 2015, which doubled as Olympic qualification. He played in two of the Olyroos' three games, scoring a hat-trick against Hong Kong and another two goals against Myanmar, achieving the second highest tally for the qualification stage out of the entire AFC. Maclaren was named in the Australian squad for the 2016 AFC U-23 Championship, where he played every minute of Australia's campaign in three games against the UAE, Vietnam and Jordan, scoring against Vietnam.
In February 2016, Maclaren announced that he pledged to play for Socceroos, rather than play for Scotland. In May 2016, Maclaren was called up to the Socceroos for the first time for a friendly match away to England, in which he started.
Honours
Individual
- A-League Young Footballer of the Year: 2015–16
- PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2015–16