Teamwork makes the dream work

Former Man Utd ace was meant to be subsequent Ronaldo and is now struggling

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The primary impression is all the time important when a brand new participant arrives at a membership, particularly for a facet like Manchester United.

When anybody joins the Crimson Devils, whether or not or not it’s a participant or a supervisor, the expectation is to carry success and carry out nearly immediately.

Lately, solely a handful of signings have persistently carried out at Outdated Trafford, with the likes of Antony and Jadon Sancho being examples of people who’ve been unable to star within the Premier League to date.

With that in thoughts, let’s check out one other participant who as soon as promised to be a world-beater however as a substitute did not stay as much as their obvious potential.

Meet the star who was meant to be the following Cristiano Ronaldo

In 2011, a promising Belgian expertise named Adnan Januzaj joined Man United from Anderlecht as a 16-year-old, the place he immediately impressed.

On October fifth, 2013, the quantity 44 was introduced within the beginning lineup for the primary time underneath David Moyes as Man United confronted Sunderland on the Stadium of Mild.

The then-18-year-old was completely electrical, netting a brace that handed the Crimson Devils a 2-1 win, which was definitely the proper technique to introduce your self to the footballing world.

After the sport, Januzaj obtained loads of reward and encouragement, with Moyes evaluating his high quality to Wayne Rooney and United youth coach Eric Harrison stating: “Januzaj is excellent and I believe he’s much like Cristiano Ronaldo“.

Nonetheless, the next season noticed the arrival of Louis van Gaal, which the winger later claimed to be the explanation why he by no means lived as much as his potential at United, regardless of being an “unbelievable” expertise, as per soccer creator Liam Canning.

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Adnan Januzaj’s profession since his debut

In the course of the Dutch supervisor’s first marketing campaign on the membership, Januzaj’s minutes and alternatives took an enormous hit, beginning simply seven occasions within the 2014/15 Premier League.

A yr later, the Belgium worldwide solely made simply two league begins throughout the marketing campaign, which was on account of two separate accidents and a brief mortgage spell at Borussia Dortmund.

With the left-footed ace failing to progress a lot additional, in 2016, he joined Sunderland on a season-long mortgage in an try and revive his profession, however over 25 matches, he failed to attain a single objective.

In 2017, Januzaj ultimately left Outdated Trafford after a troubled few seasons, becoming a member of Actual Sociedad in a deal price £9.8m, a membership he would go on to attain 23 objectives in 168 appearances for.

5 years later, the previous Crimson Satan moved to a different La Liga facet, this time becoming a member of Sevilla on a free switch, which is the place he performs his soccer in the present day.

Januzaj’s Profession Stats

Membership

Video games

G/A

Man United

63

11

Borussia Dortmund

12

2

Sunderland

28

4

Actual Sociedad

168

44

Istanbul Basaksehir

17

6

Sevilla

17

1

By way of Transfermarkt

Regardless of being on the membership for 2 seasons, Januzaj has solely made 17 appearances, with a failed mortgage spell at Istanbul Basaksehir in between, the place he scored 3 times in 17 video games.

Quick-forward to this season, and the previous wonderkid has featured simply eight occasions, regardless that he has not suffered from any accidents. Januzaj has averaged simply 24 minutes per recreation, and he actually can not get a recreation, beginning zero occasions.

At simply 29 years of age, the quantity 25’s profession has develop into fully stagnant, and there have been no indicators of him turning it round, particularly not at Sevilla.

In fact, this can be very unhappy and disappointing to see how Januzaj’s profession has unfolded, particularly contemplating simply how incredible he was in his first season underneath Moyes, after being in comparison with the legendary Ronaldo in his early days at Outdated Trafford.