Nestory Irankunda’s agent talks about move to Bayern Munich, developmental possibilities

Bayern Munich’s signing of Nestory Irankunda was an abnormally big deal on social media, undoubtedly due to how eye catching his highlights are and how comparatively low the fee is to some other recent high profile moves. Adrian Griffin, Irankunda’s agent, sat down with Christian Marchetti of Front Page Football to discuss the long awaited move. What made him and Irankunda choose Bayern?

“The most important factor was what the club had planned for him. Bayern really presented well; they outlined a plan for him. They weren’t signing him for the sake of signing him. They’re going to have people looking after him; they’ve explained that to us. He’ll pretty much have some full-time people he can call whenever. They’re going to look after him,”

Irankunda’s team wants to ensure that he will have the support he needs to grow and it seems that Bayern really convinced them of that support. “We didn’t just pick a club without going through a lot of the support networks and the off-field things. With strong off-field foundations, you’ll see the best of [Irankunda] on the field.”

But Bayern also has a recent record of picking up players overseas and developing them properly. “This was one of the reasons we picked Bayern Munich, because of the support network they have and the track record of looking after overseas players from across the world. They are one of the few major European clubs that have scouting networks everywhere. We saw this with Alphonso Davies. They took a risk on a player from a non-traditional football league like the MLS and developed him into a superstar.”

Ultimately, the theme of development was very prevalent in this interview. And one particular quote could really be seen as rather controversial. “Germany is a very good development league, which is another factor. We chose to really target that country.”

Is that why Irankunda chose Bayern? As just another stepping stone on his way to greatness, so he could leave to join what he has confessed to be his favorite club growing up, Barcelona? Further quotes show this may be a stretch. “Germany has a track record of developing young Australian players,” Griffin continued. “We’ve seen that with Mathew Leckie, Mitch Langerak, Robbie Kruse. It’s an easier place to adapt to than other countries, and Bayern Munich’s probably the best development program in the whole country. We are sort of seeing that with (Jamal) Musiala, Alphonso Davies, and other players.”

It certainly is rare to see people who say Germany is an easier place to adapt to than other countries. And saying that Bayern has the best development program in the whole country...is definitely an opinion. I’m sure Borussia Dortmund would like to have a word there. But hey, whatever floats Griffin’s boat.

Ultimately, what Irankunda and his team want from the move to Bayern is to have the youngster develop in a stable and supportive environment. And the plan proposed by Bayern seems to have been attractive to them. Seeing as it’s unlikely that Bayern would suggest moving on Irankunda after a few years, Irankunda will hopefully develop well and stay at Bayern for a long time.