There is a plan for Nestory Irankunda, Jonny Yull and Adelaide United’s other exciting prospects, and it involves playing for the “biggest clubs” in the “biggest leagues” in world football.
Irankunda and Yull were the stars of the show as Adelaide kicked off the new Isuzu UTE A-League season with a 3-0 win over defending champions Central Coast Mariners at Coopers Stadium on Friday night.
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For the first time in his professional career, 17-year-old sensation Irankunda started a club match and he was among three young stars – Yull and Panashe Madanha – handed starts by Carl Veart in the post-Craig Goodwin era.
Already with eight goals as a substitute – an A-Leagues record before the age of 18, the rumoured Bayern Munich target was in the thick of the action during his 75 minutes against the Mariners.
Adelaide head coach Veart heaped praise, not only on Irankunda, but his other young talents.
“He can play anywhere because he is such a powerful player,” he told reporters post-match.
“People think that’s all he has – the speed but his technical ability is very good too, with both feet. His decision making is generally good too.
“At times we can be a bit hard on Nestor because we expect so much from him. But he is still 17. He is still learning the game so he is still going to make mistakes and there will be periods where he will be quiet.
“It’s just a matter of us working with him because we want Nestor to go on and play in the biggest leagues for the biggest clubs in world football. That’s what we want for a lot of these young boys coming through.
“We saw tonight that we started three of the young boys and we have another four or five waiting for opportunities.”
One of those other players was Yull.
Yull, along with Madanha, started for Adelaide while Musa Toure and Bernardo Oliveira came off the bench against a Mariners side that lost star pair Brian Kaltak and Alou Kuol to injuries in the first half, while Central Coast’s Jacob Farrell was sent off in the second period.
The 18-year-old Yull – one of the brightest young talents in Australian football and another gem off Adelaide’s famed production line – impressed throughout his 86-minute display in the centre of midfield.
At 15 years and 321 days, the UK-born youngster became the third youngest player to represent Adelaide – behind Teeboy Kamara and Mohamed Toure – after his substitute appearance against Perth Glory in Round 4 of the 2020-21 Isuzu UTE A-League.
London came calling for the teenager last year, when Yull was invited to Premier League powerhouse Chelsea for a two-week trial. Having caught the eye of Chelsea’s academy, the Blues extended that trial to a month as he appeared for their Under-18 and U21 teams.
“Jonny is a very, very special player and I’ve been saying that for a long time,” said Veart.
“He showed tonight. Him and Zach (Clough), the more that they can play together, they’re going to cause a lot of issues for a lot of teams because they’re both very good at receiving balls in tight areas and playing forward.”
