The debate that rages over which country Adnan Januzaj should represent appears to be rather more civilised in England than it is elsewhere.
Last week on Albanian television they discussed the most sought-after teenager in European football on a programme entitled Hero or Traitor, the view being that he would be the latter if he turned his back on his family’s heritage to represent anyone else.
On the face of it the 18-year-old who shot to prominence with two brilliant goals in only his third appearance for Manchester United would seem to be spoilt for choice. His direct style and willingness to dribble past defenders as if it was the most natural thing in the world has everyone purring.
The reality, however, is very different and those who have encountered Januzaj on his journey are saddened by the pressure being placed on his gifted young shoulders.
Born in Brussels, Januzaj is the son of Kosovar-Albanian parents who fled the Balkan crisis to escape the poverty and persecution suffered by other members of their family. Today their story can be told for the first time.
But it is a story that means Januzaj could play for Belgium, Albania, Kosovo, Turkey or England, and to date Januzaj has not revealed his preference and nor has his protective father, Abedin.
Januzaj’s agent, Dirk de Vriese, says no family members will be speaking until a lucrative new contract with United has been agreed, although Europe’s other top clubs are circling if that does not materialise. But there is clearly more to it than that.
It is thought that, were they a FIFA-affiliated team and therefore able to participate in competitive international football, Kosovo would be first choice. As it is, England are understood to be the favoured alternative.
The FA certainly believe that to be the case and they are seeking to establish if the possession of a British passport could lead to the five-year FIFA residency rule being bypassed.
But even that, with the image of highly-paid lawyers going into battle in a bid to land the prize asset, feels like exploitation given the picture that is painted of a quiet, dedicated young man and his humble family.
From his old teachers to his earliest coaches, nobody has a bad word to say about this boy or his father. Even Anderlecht, the Brussels football club that lost him at 16 to United because in Belgium it is prohibited to place players of that age under contract, wish him only the best.
‘We are not happy at all that a player we lost for €300,000, a fee that was set by FIFA, is now worth 20 million,’ Anderlecht spokesman David Steegen told Sportsmail.
‘He was born in Brussels, educated here at our club; he’s one of ours and it makes us angry what has happened. But we are happy for Adnan. He is a good boy.’
In Belgium there have been unsubstantiated reports of United paying an additional €200,000 to the Januzaj family and providing them with a home in a gated apartment block in one of the smarter parts of Manchester where he lives with his mum and dad.
Steegen does, however, acknowledge that Anderlecht did to RWDM Brussels FC what United would do to them four years later. RWDM was local to the Januzaj family home in the middle-class Brussels suburb of Koekelberg – a place dominated by the stunning Basilica – and Abedin would take Adnan to training after leaving the Chevrolet-Opel dealership where he worked as an accountant.
‘We could see very early that Adnan was a fantastic player,’ said Jean-Paul Pira, who runs the 14 youth teams at RWDM. ‘He was not a big player – very slightly built – but his technique was out of the ordinary. In one game for the under 10s I remember him scoring 16 or 17 goals in a 22-0 win.’
Pira also remembers Adnan’s father. ‘He was always very calm and supportive, but he never told him how well he had played; only that he could do better.’
RWDM received not a penny from Anderlecht. ‘Zero!’ said Pira. But again, there are only feelings of generosity towards Januzaj. ‘One of his old team-mates – Eloy Suarez – brought in these photographs for you,’ Pira then explained. ‘Everyone here is very proud.’
Abdel Jaichi is proud too, and as Januzaj’s sports teacher at the Athenee Royal De Jette school in Koekelberg for four years he should be. He taught Januzaj from 12 until he moved to Manchester at 16 and remembers ‘a timid boy who set an example to the other students with his work ethic’.
‘Adnan was by far the most talented player at the school but he was very unselfish,’ said Jaichi. ‘He would dribble past opponents but always try to give the opportunity to score to a team-mate. And there was never a problem with his studies.’
Sir Alex Ferguson has spoken of Januzaj as ‘a beautifully balanced player’, while a youth team coach at Anderlecht – Yannick Ferrera – has compared him to Johan Cruyff. It is also noted that he shares his birthday with Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar: February 5.
Many identify Januzaj’s father as his biggest influence, including a former Anderlecht youth team-mate. Michael Heylen, who is now at Courtrai, said: ‘Januzaj is the greatest talent I’ve ever played with. He was so fast over the first few yards that all opponents were taken by surprise.
‘But if Adnan played a bad match, his father let him know about it. At times he could be very tough and sometimes Adnan had tears in his eyes. But I had an idea that his dad knew what he was doing. He taught his son to take the knocks and that was good for his development.’
Anderlecht credit Abedin with the fact that his son is so grounded. There are no tattoos, no flash cars. He does not even have any sponsorship deals, with Abedin so confident his son will fulfil his considerable potential he thinks it more prudent to wait.
But to understand Abedin Januzaj you have to know his story and the struggle the Januzaj family faced during Kosovo’s violent past.
While Abedin fled Kosovo, other members of this close-knit family took up arms in the country’s war of independence against the Serbs as the former Yugoslavia disintegrated.
But the bond between them remains strong, with relatives speaking fondly this week of the teenage football star who frequently visits the bustling provincial town of Istog, nestled beneath the mountains that separate Kosovo from Serbia and Montenegro.
Every summer the fluent Albanian-speaking youngster spends several weeks at the family home, a tidy farm surrounded by fields of maize, in a hamlet named after the Januzaj family. In these times of peace Januzaj can play football with his uncles and cousins. But those relatives recall the struggle against the oppression of communism and anti-Albanian racism in war-torn Kosovo.
The eldest of six children, Abedin was expected to provide for the family after his father Idriz, a textile factory worker, became ill with cancer. But faced with the prospect of being forced to join the Serb-dominated Yugoslav Army to fight in Bosnia, Abedin fled to Belgium in 1992.
By then Abedin’s uncle, Januz, had already been jailed for 15 years for taking part in a protest demanding Albanian rights in the part of Yugoslavia that is now Kosovo. Later his younger brother, Shemsedin, would join Januz in the Kosovo Liberation Army, independence fighters backed by the allies.
Speaking to Sportsmail, Shemsedin said: ‘From the 1980s until today we have struggled as a family. We were persecuted by the Serbian system. I was a fighter with the KLA and so was my wife. We fought together in the same brigade. One of my best friends was killed – he stepped on a landmine.
‘I was 18 when I joined the KLA. I fought between January 1998 and June 1999. I couldn’t put up with the repression, the rape of women and the violence any more. It was the time to die fighting for our nation. I was not frightened because I knew what we were doing was right.
‘There are still a lot of people missing – we don’t know what happened to them during the war.’
On April 1, 1999 Serb forces attacked Istog, killing civilians, torching houses and destroying the 18th century mosque. As Istog mayor Muhamet Rexhaj said, the whole town was burnt down. ‘All 300 houses,’ he said, though the Januzaj’s house survived as it was on the outskirts.
‘Some 17 people were murdered, including two disabled people. Five members of one family were burned alive. The rest of the population fled.’
Mayor Rexhaj spoke of how ‘the Januzaj family were persecuted by the Serbs’.
Shemsedin, an unemployed former rescue worker who struggles to provide for his wife and two children, tells of how Abedin fled not only to escape the oppression of the Serbs but ‘to provide for the family’ by sending money home. ‘My father died two years later so Abedin was the head of the family after that,’ he said.
Abedin’s wife and Adnan’s mother, Ganimete Sadikaj, was also the victim of repression. Born into one of the wealthiest families in Istog, the Sadikajs were considered a threat by the Serb-dominated Yugoslav regime after World War Two. They were forced to leave Kosovo and deported to Turkey under a plan to suppress Albanian nationalism.
The family would later move to Belgium where Adnan’s grandfather, Alija, set up a business.
A former neighbour, Arif Haskaj, said: ‘The Sadikaj family had a lot of land and a farm. They were among the richest people in the village. But they had to escape to Turkey because the Serbian authorities took away their land and their property during the communist times, after World War Two.’
In Brussels the family became part of the city’s Albanian community and it was there that Abedin and Ganimete met.
In Istog the locals tell of how the Sadikaj family paid for the renovation of that 18th century mosque, while many will visit the tea shop that is owned by the Januzaj family. Visar Januzaj, Adnan’s cousin, works as a waiter there.
‘Adnan often comes to the cafe,’ he said. ‘I have played football with him plenty of times and he’s really good.’
Even a colonel in the Kosovan Police says he has played with the rising star of Manchester United. ‘He was 14 at the time and we didn’t know who he was,’ he recalled. ‘When he came on we could not work out why he was so good – how he could do everything with the ball.’
The Januzaj family were angered by that debate on Albanian television. Even so, on Tuesday Adnan offered greetings to fellow Muslims on the Islamic holy day of Eid ul Adha.
As villagers in Istog were slaughtering sheep in their back gardens as part of the Muslim festival, he wrote on his Facebook page: ‘Eid Mubarak to all Muslim fans.’
His bond with his family’s past is also strong, and at the Kosovan FA they have not yet resigned themselves to losing him to England. ‘We cannot stop them playing for another team,’ said a spokesman. ‘But we have a lot of support within FIFA, so it’s a case of when rather than if we receive full recognition. Then hopefully boys like Adnan will want to play for Kosovo.’
Daily Mail
