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Find your Sport Nation frequencyIrankunda signs with former Premier League team
Nicholas Quinlan • July 19th, 2025 1:52 pm
Australian football wonderkid Nestroy Irankunda has officially signed with EFL Championship side Watford FC on a five-year deal.
The 19-year-old departs German giants Bayern Munich for a reported 3 million Euros (5.3 million AUD) after signing with the six-time European champions only just last year.
He spent last season playing for Bayern’s reserve team before moving on loan to Swiss side Grasshopper Club Zurich in January. He played 19 games for them, where he scored one goal and three assists.
However, as reported by other media outlets, Bayern does have a buy-back option should he impress alongside a 50% sell-on clause should Watford choose to sell him on.
From this deal, his former A-League team Adelaide United are expected to receive 10% of his transfer fee from Bayern as per their agreement.
The move to Watford is hoped to give Irankunda more playing time as he presses his case to be selected for the national team with the FIFA World Cup only 11 months away.
So far under Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, Irankunda has only made one appearance, which came in Popovic’s first game in charge against China. He has not been selected by him since.
In a club statement confirming the signing, Sporting Director of Watford Gian Luca Nani was excited by the former Adelaide United player to sign with the club.
“Nestory can be a very special player, and we believe he can realise his potential here, with us,” he said.
“He is exactly the sort of profile (that manager) Paulo (Pezzolano) wanted in a winger.
“Nestory was extremely sought-after, and thanks to our established scouting network and connections, we were able to be ahead of others in the race to sign players of this potential.
"Crucially, we were able to move quickly when opportunities like this arise, and that’s been the hallmark of our successful recruitment.
"The player wanted to come here as he sees the pathway, he has seen how we develop young players at Watford and the vision we have for this club.
"We are absolutely delighted to have signed Nestory, and he’s added further to the huge feel-good factor around the training ground.”
Irankunda will wear the No. 66 jersey for Watford, which is the same number that he wore for Adelaide United.
