Future rising talent of Bayern Munich, Nestory Irankunda is currently in sparkling form in Australia. The 18-year-old player, who had a complicated childhood born in a refugee camp, has an emotional story and is set to make waves in the football world.
While the 2023/2024 season for Bayern Munich has been marked by title losses and difficulties, it also holds promises for the future. Recruiting Swedish striker Jonah Kusi-Asare (16 years old) for €4.5 million last winter, despite interests from Chelsea, Manchester United, and Real Sociedad, the German club secured another gem three months earlier with Nestory Irankunda.
The Australian forward, who turned 18 on February 9th, will join the Rekordmeister this summer for a fee of €3.4 million. Possessing undeniable potential, he quickly caught the eye of the German club as a significant reinforcement for the future. “We’ve had Nestory on our radar for some time and are happy to have reached an agreement with him and Adelaide United regarding a move to Munich next summer. We want to thank the officials at United for the always good discussions.
Nestory is an extremely fast winger, good at dribbling and finishing, and with a lot of power towards the goal. We are convinced of his potential and that he will progress to the next stages with us,” explained Jochen Sauer, Head of Youth Development at Bayern Munich, at the time of his signing.
Coming off a stellar 2022/2023 season with 5 goals and 2 assists in 23 matches, despite limited playing time, the right winger had impressive credentials with the Australian national team, scoring 11 goals in 7 appearances at the U17 level. Furthermore, he was called up in March 2023 for two matches against Ecuador with the senior team but did not play. Considered a great hope in his country, his transfer to Bayern Munich generated much discussion. This had an impact on his start to the season, which was deemed relatively disappointing.
With two goals and three assists in the first 15 matches with Adelaide United, Nestory Irankunda struggled to replicate his performance from the previous season and to fully adapt to the pressure of being a starter while knowing he was expected to deliver in every match. “Nestory hasn’t reached the level we expected from him this year. It’s normal for pressure to take its toll, but he needs to start enjoying his football again. I simply don’t see enough joy in him at the moment. It’s a tough position he’s in because everyone expects things from him, and it’s important; we’re very careful about what we expect from him,” explained his coach Carl Veart to Fox Sports on February 10th.
A challenging journey awaits Nestory Irankunda, who has faced difficulties from a young age. His parents, originally from Burundi, fled the civil war and sought refuge in Tanzania before moving to Australia. Fourth in a family of seven children and born in a refugee camp, Nestory Irankunda did not experience the entirety of his parents’ journey, joining them on the Pacific island when he was just three months old. “I was very young when I came to Australia from Tanzania.
There was a war going on in Africa at that time between several tribes. Of course, my parents fled the war, and they moved to a refugee camp in Tanzania. It was quite hard for them, to be honest. If I rely on the little stories that have been told to me, it was really tough for them. We are grateful to be in Australia and to live a beautiful life now,” he confided in an interview for Keep Up Studios. Australia, as a welcoming land, has seen many players like Awer Mabil, Thomas Deng, and the Garang brothers, Alou and Teng Kuol, become international footballers, but Nestory Irankunda clearly embodies a symbol in the country.
Discovering football at a young age in Australia, Nestory Irankunda quickly revealed a talent that very few possess. “I approached him and asked if he was playing at that 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 the whole team. In some tough games we had, I put him as a defender, and he did absolutely everything at the back and even dribbled the entire opposing team and scored from there,” revealed Swarv Kania, who coached him in the U10s at Parafield Gardens. This marked the beginning of his journey with Adelaide United, which eventually led him to the peaks of Australian football and, consequently, his transfer to Bayern Munich. It was a significant choice for Nestory Irankunda: “there were obviously offers from Premier League teams, but my father supports Bayern. There was a photo he showed me in the refugee camp, wearing Bayern Munich gear, so I made this choice to make my parents and my father proud. I said yes right away.”
Nestory Irankunda shines brightly
Although the news was followed by weeks of sporting difficulties, Nestory Irankunda is currently dominating everything in his path. In the last 8 matches, he has scored six goals and provided three assists, notably impressing with a hat-trick against Western United. “I think we’re starting to see maturity emerge, and tonight, his performance was very good, and I think it’s been good these past 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 achieve these performances.
It’s hard for young players to find that consistency; they’re still figuring out what works for them. He has high expectations for himself. He’s still a kid, so it’s important for him to keep enjoying his football, to relax, to make mistakes, and to learn,” noted Carl Veart after the match. The opposing coach, John Aloisi, was charmed by 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 hard to stop him… even the first goal he scored, it’s from a very tight angle. He has so much power, he has abilities, and he was good. He was very good tonight. He killed us.”
With two more matches against Central Coast Mariners and Brisbane Roar to play at the end of this season, Nestory Irankunda will enjoy his final moments in a familiar place. Adelaide United fans even formed a queue halfway around the stadium to receive his autograph after his last home match against Macarthur FC. Now, Nestory Irankunda will head to Germany for the next season and strive to confirm his talent at the European level.
His teammate Ryan Tunnicliffe is quite confident in 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-level player. He has the natural abilities, the one-on-one skills of a forward, so I think if he understands the mental side well, listens to the older boys in the team, and stays grounded, I think the world is his. It’s even up to us, as a group, to stay grounded and let him play freely.” A phenomenon from the other side of the
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