If the 2023/2024 season rhymes with loss of title and difficulty for Bayern Munich, we can also add the word future to it. Recruiting Swedish striker Jonah Kusi-Asare (16 years old) for 4.5 million euros last winter despite interest from Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Sociedad, the German club offered itself another three-month gem earlier with Nestory Irankunda. Australian striker who celebrated his 18th birthday on February 9, the one who was born in Kigoma in Australia will arrive at the Rekordmeister this summer and cost 3.4 million euros. Endowed with certain potential, he quickly caught the eye of the German team who saw in him a great reinforcement for the future. “We have had Nestory on our radar for some time and are pleased to have reached an agreement with him and Adelaide United regarding a move to Munich next summer. We would like to thank United officials for the always good discussions. Nestory is an extremely fast winger, good at dribbling and finishing and with plenty of power towards goal. We are convinced of his potential and that he will take the next steps with us”explained Jochen Sauer, director of youth development at Bayern Munich at the time of his signing.
Coming out of a high-flying 2022/2023 season with 5 goals and 2 goals in 23 matches, despite reduced playing time, the right winger had great credentials in selection with Australia with 11 goals in 7 caps at the level U17. Better, he was called up in March 2023 for two matches against Ecuador with the A team, but did not play. Considered in the country as a great hope, his transfer to Bayern Munich caused a lot of talk. This also had an impact on his start to the season which was considered relatively disappointing. With two goals and three sacrifices in the first 15 matches with Adelaide United, Nestory Irankunda had difficulty confirming his last season and fully adapting to the pressure of being a starter while knowing he was expected in each match. Nestory did not reach the level we expected of him this year. It’s normal that the pressure takes its toll on him, but he has to start enjoying his football again. I just don’t see enough happiness in him at the moment. It’s a difficult position he finds himself in because everyone expects things from him and that’s important, we are very careful about what we expect from him, his coach Carl Veart explained to Fox Sports on February 10.
A journey strewn with pitfalls
Difficult digestion for Nestory Irankunda who was rocked by difficulty from a very young age. His parents who are from Burundi fled the country’s civil war and went to a refugee camp in Tanzania before going to Australia. The fourth of seven children and born precisely in this refugee camp, Nestory Irankunda did not experience the entire exodus of his parents and had only just been born when he joined the Pacific island when he was three months old. “I was really young when I came to Australia from Tanzania. There was a war going on at that time in Africa between several tribes. Of course my parents fled the war and moved to a refugee camp in Tanzania. It was pretty hard for them to be honest. If I go by the little stories I was told, it was really difficult for them. We are grateful to be in Australia and living a good life now”he confided in an interview for Keep Up Studios. A welcoming land, Australia has seen many players like Awer Mabil, Thomas Deng as well as the Garang brothers, Alou and Teng Kuol become international footballers, but Nestory Irankunda clearly has the image of a symbol in the country.
Discovering football in Australia quite young, Nestory Irankunda very quickly revealed a gift that very few people have. “I walked up and asked him if he was playing at the time and he said ‘no’ and I just said ‘sign up for me, play with me’. I just put him in midfield and he did what he did, he dribbled past the whole team. In some tough games we had, I put him on as a defender and he did absolutely everything at the back and even dribbled the whole opposing team and scored from there.revealed to ABC Swarv Kania who coached him in U10 with Parafield Gardens. The beginning of his story with Adelaide United which would lead him to the heights of Australian football and therefore this transfer to Bayern Munich. A choice far from trivial for Nestory Irankunda: “There were obviously offers from Premier League teams, but my dad supports Bayern. There was a photo he showed me in the refugee camp, in Bayern Munich uniform, so I made this choice to make my parents and my father proud. I said yes straight away”.
Nestory Irankunda hits the screen
And if this news was followed by more complicated weeks sportingly, Nestory Irankunda is currently crushing everything in its path. In the last 8 matches, he has scored six goals and delivered three goals, notably making an impression with a hat-trick against Western United.“I think we’re starting to see the maturity coming through and tonight her performance was very good and I think she’s been good the last three or four weeks. I’m happy for him and I think it also shows him that if he keeps working and keeps his head in the right place he will put in these performances. It’s difficult for young players to find that consistency, they are still discovering what works for them. He has high expectations of himself. He’s still a kid, so it’s important for him to continue enjoying his football, relax, make mistakes and learn.”, noted Carl Veart after the meeting. The opposing coach John Aloisi was under the spell of such talent: “he’s one of the most talented I’ve ever seen in Australia, without a doubt. We couldn’t stop him. When he plays like that, it’s difficult to stop him… even the first goal he scores is from a very narrow angle. He has so much power, he has ability and he was good. He was very good tonight. He killed us.”
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Still having to play two matches against Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar at the end of the season, Nestory Irankunda will enjoy his last moments in a familiar place. Adelaide United fans lined up halfway across the stadium to receive his signature after their last home match against Macarthur FC. From now on, Nestory Irankunda will join Germany for next season and try to confirm all his talent at European level. His teammate Ryan Tunnicliffe is quite confident about his young partner: “I think he has a very good chance of being one of the best players. He has all the athleticism you need to be a top player. He has the natural ability, the one-on-one skills of a striker, so I think if he understands the mental side well, he listens to the older boys in the team and keeps his feet on the ground, I think the world is his. It’s even up to us, as a group, to keep our feet on the ground and let him play freely.” A phenomenon from the other side of the world, Nestory Irankunda is ready to conquer the world of football after getting everyone in agreement in Australia.
