Ever since the Socceroos’s golden generation faded into oblivion, Australian soccer has been anxiously waiting for a second coming.
By Ben Bocsák
In the absence of the Tim Cahills and Mark Vidukas, the country is crying out for a fresh star to herald a new dawn.
And the wait might soon be over with Nestory Irankunda ready to break into the spotlight.
Born in Tanzania, Irankunda represents an exciting new face of Australian football.
He is the face of the Mohamed Touré and Garang Kuol generation. The representation of a ‘new Australia.’ These are young stars, the children of immigrants who have broken new ground in the A-League at 15 and 16 years of age. The true definition of trailblazers.
Irankunda is by far the most exciting of them all. At 18 years old, he had already made 61 first team appearances for Adelaide United establishing himself as one of the best players in the A-League.
He’d attracted the attention of a host of European clubs, but it was Bayern Munich who won him over, presenting a clear pathway for him to break into the club’s first team.
Bayern hope Irankunda will follow in the footsteps of Alphonso Davies, another teenage talent the German side recruited at an early age from an ‘untapped’ football territory and has since gone onto establish himself as one of the best players in European football.
The young Australian is very much on track to follow that pathway.
In his first season at the club, Irankunda has made eight goal contributions in 15 appearances for Bayern Munich’s II team playing in Germany’s third tier.
Deemed too good for that level, he’s now been sent out on loan to Grasshopper in Switzerland, where Irankunda is proving he might be too good for that level too.
Three assists in his first seven appearances may not look like much but the underlying numbers and the background context make the youngster’s first month in Switzerland an unequivocal success.
In his seven matches so far, Irankunda has a 7.31 overall rating on FotMob, which is the highest rating from all the Grasshopper players during the same period.
It’s even more impressive considering Grasshopper have not won any of the seven matches Irankunda has played in. So even though his side have not played well, Irankunda has still been able to stand-out, which is the sign of an exciting talent.
Delving deeper into the numbers, you really start to see where Irankunda’s quality shines.
He is a player who is very elusive on the ball and hard to catch for opponent defenders. In his first seven matches, Irankunda has been the most fouled player three times and completed the most dribbles on the pitch twice.
In total, he has attempted an average of 2.5 dribbles per 90 minutes and succeeded in 50% of his attempts. This might not seem like much but considering Grasshopper have the fourth lowest average possession in the league (46.6%) the fact that Irankunda is still able to attempt two dribbles per game when he’s limited to 40-50 touches per 90 minutes is an impressive ratio.
Even more impressive are his creative numbers. This is the area where Irankunda really thrives in.
In seven matches he has created eight chances for his teammates and has seven key passes. He’s been directly involved in 40% of Grasshopper’s goals since he has arrived, and he has created the most chances for his side too.
The fact that he’s doing that in his first month with the Swiss side, settling in seamlessly, is a marker of his exciting talent.
He only turned 19 years old at the start of this month and this is just his first season in Europe but already he is making a strong impression.
He’s only just getting started too. Blessed with pace and brilliant technical qualities, Irankunda is yet to unleash one of his best traits.
In the A-League, the youngster scored 16 goals, including some stunning strikes with his wand of a left foot. 25% of his goals for Adelaide United were scored from outside the box during his time in Australia.
A combination of his unselfishness and Grasshopper’s poor form has meant Irankunda hasn’t been able to showcase his goal prowess so far. He’s been restricted to just 8 shots (an average of 1.48 per game) in his first six appearances and a total xG of 0.50. The closest he has come so far is hitting the woodwork in Grasshopper’s 2-1 defeat against Servette.
The goal will come but right now all Bayern will care about are the performances. Based on his first month, Irankunda is already showing he’s ready for the next step.
What that will be remains to be seen. At the same age, Alphonso Davies was still largely playing for Bayern Munich’s II team before breaking into the first team the following season.
Irankunda’s pathway to Bayern is a little trickier. He’s a right-winger by trade and won’t be transitioned to play as a full-back like Davies.
With the likes of Michael Olise and Leroy Sané ahead of him in the pecking order, Irankunda might have to bide his time a little longer.
But if he continues on the same path, he absolutely has the potential to explode onto the scene at Bayern and follow in the footsteps of Davies. In the process, he’ll put Australian soccer on the map, just as the left back has done with Canadian soccer.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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