23-year-old Teague is bidding to make Tony Popovic's squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and jumped at the opportunity to take a loan away from Belgian club KV Mechelen, where he played only 40 minutes of competitive football across just five appearances since leaving Melbourne Victory at the end of the 2024/25 A-League season.

Teague's loan lasts through to the end of the 2025/26 season and could be a big boost to the flailing season of Melbourne City, who have won only one of their last seven matches across all competitions and are in danger of slipping out of the top-six this weekend with a similarly unfavourable result.

City coach Aurelio Vidmar is not expecting Teague to make an immediate start at home to Auckland this weekend due to his lack of match fitness, but is expecting Teague to add "a lot of quality" that has not scored 2+ goals in a run of ten matches.

"It’s a great opportunity for us and It sort of fell into our lap in a way," Vidmar said of Teague's pursuit of more game time at home.

“He’s a quality player, a good decision maker, can play a number of roles in midfield … he was one of Victory’s best players last season.

“He’s a player who wants to get on to the ball, which is perfect for us. He’s going to bring a lot of quality to us.

“He’s a little bit rusty. He’s absolutely fit, but rusty in terms of game minutes, so he’ll probably need a couple of weeks to get up to speed.”

Zach Clough has been reunited with Mark Milligan, who was an assistant coach at Adelaide United for three seasons at the same time that Clough played nearly 80 games for the club before trying his hand at the Malaysian top-flight.

Clough made only seven appearances for Selangor before Milligan talked him into an A-League return.

"I’ve only got really good things to say about him," said Clough of the Jets manager.

"The way he sees football is exactly how I like to play. So it’s perfect for me to come here at this time of my career.

“I’ve been really impressed with the style and the young players have picked it up really well. I think I can bring experience to the team and fit into his system pretty well.”

Clough continues to recover from a hip issue sustained in Malaysia and therefore, like Teague, is not expected to immediately slot into his team's starting XI.

“I’m still very new here, so I’ve been settling in slowly and, hopefully I can get out on the pitch very soon.

“I really enjoyed this league in Australia and I think it really suits the type of player I am.

“I’m excited to show that here at Newcastle.”