After ‘rough patch’, Watford fans chant Socceroos teenage star’s name again

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

Since then, however, he has not scored for his club and lost his place as a regular starter.

When Irankunda spoke to this masthead just before Christmas – four months on from those two free-kick goals – he happily admitted he was in trouble.

“I want 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 do my best again.”

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

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

Nestory Irankunda

At that stage of the season, Watford fans had more negative feedback on his face than praise.

“Especially after games,” he said of his interactions with fans. “That’s when some of the fans say things, they 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 a forceful player off the bench. However, his last two appearances have produced two superb assists – and a reminder of just how high his ceiling is.

In the first leg against Norwich City, he picked up the ball on the left wing, turned on a blistering pace and set fire to his mark with ease before passing Vivaldo Semedo who scored in the 90th minute to make it 1-0.

Three days later against Birmingham City, Irankunda came on at half-time and outdid himself with a truly classy save. This time he started from deep in Watford’s defensive half, torching three players chasing him in vain as he charged through the middle, then whistled home an assist from just outside the box. It was the third goal in a 3–0 victory and their fourth win on the bounce, part of a seven-match unbeaten run that took them into the play-offs.

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

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

It is a credit to the fast-maturing former Adelaide United ace and those in his corner that he has emerged from such a difficult period a sharper competitor and ready to fight for a starting spot again.

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

“I’m not really a wingman anymore,” Irankunda said.

“The confidence and composure to play in tight spaces and in tough moments of games just to keep doing what I’m doing, stay focused, I feel like that’s what I’ve gotten better at, and also tracking and helping out on defense.

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“I feel like once I get the consistency to put in great performances or be in the game week in and week out… [I’ve got] some hard work remains to be done. I’m pretty sure I’ll get to that level.”

If he can, Irankunda won’t be in England’s second row for long. Despite the sale to Watford, Bayern Munich still retain a clause that will give him 50 percent of his next transfer fee plus a buy-back option, meaning he could still return to Germany. His highlight reel has undoubtedly caught the attention of Premier League clubs as well, but Irankunda prefers to get there with his current employers.

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