Sporting Lisbon have signed winger, Nestory Irankunda from Watford in a £15.4m transfer.
Nestory’s move comes after a single season at Vicarage Road where he registered four goals and four assists apiece in 44 appearances following his move from Bayern Munich in summer 2025.
His performances ultimately persuaded Sporting to agree an initial £15.4m fee plus further add-ons with Watford for the 20-year-old winger, who has signed a five-year contract until June 2031.
Born in Kigoma, Tanzania, Irankunda began his youth career with Northern Wolves then Parafield Gardens before he joined Adelaide Croatia Raiders, which led to a move to Adelaide United where he graduated through their academy to make his first-team debut aged 15 years in January 2022.
He proceeded to score 16 goals in 61 first-team appearances for The Reds which led to a move to Germany’s Bayern Munich where he played for their reserve team, in a spell which saw him produce four goals and four assists in 19 appearances.
Bayern subsequently loaned him to Switzerland’s Grasshopper in January 2025 for the second half of the 2024-25 season, in which he delivered one goal and three assists in 21 appearances that led him to join Watford permanently last summer to secure regular game time.
Irankunda represents Australia at international level and having progressed through their youth ranks and received his maiden senior call-up in March 2023, he made his debut in June 2024 with an assist in a 2-0 victory over Bangladesh in the first of 19 caps in which he scored six goals.
He also featured in the Socceroos’ squad at this summer’s FIFA World Cup where he opened the scoring in their first group match against Turkey, which ended in a 2-0 win for the Aussies and he was named Player of the Match as they eventually went on to lose to Egypt on penalties in the Round of 32.
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