After a ‘rough patch’, Watford fans are singing the name of Socceroos’ teen star again

1 month ago 17

English new wave band The Human League released their seminal, chart-topping hit Don’t You Want Me in November 1981.

Nestory Irankunda was born 24 years later – and appears to be more of a hip-hop guy anyway – so chances are that the first time he heard the melody was when fans of Watford started singing his name to it last week: “I-ran-kun-da ba-by, I-ran-kun-da, ohhh!”

This is Irankunda’s first full season as a first-team professional in Europe, and at this early stage of his career – he’s still a teenager – it’s about new experiences. The honour of hearing his first personalised chant from the terraces is just one of them.

There have been plenty of others, and not all have been positive.

Sold to Watford by Bayern Munich in the off-season, the 19-year-old made an instant name for himself by scoring not one, but two jaw-dropping, long-range free kicks in just his fourth and fifth appearances for the club.

Nobody taught him. His dead-ball technique mostly comes naturally, but Irankunda also credits the many hours spent playing at the park with his mates, plus a few things he picked up from videos on YouTube and from watching Socceroos teammate Craig Goodwin.

“Training with top players … you get to learn how to hit it better,” he said.

“Having [Goodwin] right in front of me, to learn from him on how to take free kicks was what helped me, I guess. It wasn’t really teaching. You just stand there and you watch, and just try to copy it. That’s just the way to do it sometimes.

“I can switch techniques. I can curve one into the top corner, I can do a 40-yard free kick. It’s just something that I like to do … and I feel like I’ve shown it.”

But he hasn’t scored for his club since, and he’s lost his spot as a regular starter.

When Irankunda spoke to this masthead just before Christmas – four months removed from those two free kick goals – he was happy to concede he was in a funk.

“I’m looking to do more,” Irankunda said. “I want to do more.

“I’m just having a rough patch at the moment, but I feel like I can bounce back and be able to show my best again.”

The coach who signed him, Paulo Pezzolano, was sacked in October after just three wins from his first 10 games in charge, and inconsistency – the No.1 weakness that he says he is trying to address – crept back into Irankunda’s game. In one match, Pezzolano hooked Irankunda after just 35 minutes, effectively making him the scapegoat for the team’s poor performance.

“Once I get the consistency to be able to have great performances or just be in the game week in, week out … I’ll be able to get to that level.”

Nestory Irankunda

At that stage of the season, Watford fans were more likely to deliver negative feedback to his face than sing his praises.

“Mainly after games,” he said of his interactions with supporters. “That’s when some of the fans say some things, ask questions. Sometimes you want to answer, sometimes you don’t, and sometimes you choose not to answer just for the sake of it.”

Under Pezzolano’s replacement, Javi Gracia, who previously coached Watford in 2018-19, Irankunda has been an impact player off the bench. But his past two appearances have yielded two wonderful assists – and a reminder of just how high his ceiling is.

In the first against Norwich City, he collected the ball on the left wing, turned on his blistering pace and torched his marker with ease before passing to Vivaldo Semedo, who scored in the 90th minute for a 1-0 win.

Three days later against Birmingham City, Irankunda came on at half-time and outdid himself with a genuinely world-class move. This time, he started from deep inside Watford’s defensive half, burning three players who chased him in vain as he charged through the middle, and then laid off an assist from just outside the penalty box. It was the third goal in a 3-0 victory and their fourth win on the bounce, part of an unbeaten streak of seven games that has lifted them into the play-off positions.

“Nestory is a different player; he can do different things,” Gracia said.

Their next outing is in the FA Cup on Sunday morning (AEDT) against Bristol City.

It is a credit to the fast-maturing ex-Adelaide United ace and those in his corner that he has emerged from such a trying period as a more hardened competitor, and ready to challenge for a starting spot again.

Nestory Irankunda with Watford coach Javi Gracia.

Not only has he had to adjust to the relentless schedule of the English Championship and the rhythm of two to three games every week, but he is also playing a different position: somewhere between inverted winger and shadow striker. It’s not dissimilar to the role Tony Popovic has him playing for the Socceroos, which he recognises is very helpful in a World Cup year.

“I’m not really a winger any more,” Irankunda said.

“The confidence and the composure of playing in tight spaces, and in hard moments of games just to keep doing what I’m doing, stay focused, I feel like that’s what I’ve improved on, and also the tracking back and helping to defend as well.

“I feel like once I get the consistency to be able to have great performances or just be in the game week in, week out … [I’ve got] a little bit of hard work left to do. I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to get to that level.”

If he can, Irankunda won’t be in England’s second-tier for long. Despite selling him to Watford, Bayern Munich still retain a clause that will give them 50 per cent of his next transfer fee, plus a buy-back option that means he could yet return to Germany. His highlight reel has doubtlessly caught the eye of Premier League clubs, too, but Irankunda’s preference is to get there with his current employers.

“A couple more goals and promotion – that’s what I’d love to do,” he said.