The parents fled Burundi from the civil war. He was born in Tanzania and grew up (and exploded) in Australia. Next July 1st he will become a new player of the German club at 18 years old, for a fee of around 3 million euros
Its story is comparable to “Hustle”, the film in which Adam Sandler plays a basketball talent scout (Stanley Sugerman) and discovers Juancho Hernangomez, aka Bo Cruz, making him an NBA star. Here, however, we talk about football, escapes, obsession and talent. On July 1st Nestory Irankunda will become a new player for Bayern Munich at the age of 18, for a fee of around 3 million euros. And when he lands in Bavaria, he will be accompanied by Airton Andrioli, Brazilian coach and head of Adelaide United’s youth team. In a nutshell: the man who fulfilled the dream of a boy born in a refugee camp in Tanzania after his parents fled Burundi due to the civil war. Seven children were born to father Gideon and mother Dafroza, of whom Nestory is the fourth youngest. The only one who grew up with football in his veins thanks to his father figure, a driver and at the same time semi-professional player who was unable to make it due to countless physical problems – it is said he had one leg a few centimeters longer than the other, like Garrincha – , both for reasons of survival, given that the inter-ethnic hatred between Hutu and Tutsi was the root cause of the Burundian conflict between 1993 and 2005. Irankunda himself says: “My older sister was ill, she couldn’t move. My parents were running away without her, then dad came back and put her on his shoulder. He loves his family too much and would have done anything for us.” In short, someone who goes fast, on the pitch and in life.