Former Man Utd star compared to Cristiano Ronaldo suffers major blow | Football | Sport
Ex-Manchester United starlet Adnan Januzaj has been dealt a crushing blow in only his second start for Sevilla this campaign. The Belgian winger, who was once likened to Cristiano Ronaldo during his early days at Old Trafford, now faces an uncertain period on the sidelines. Januzaj arrived at United from Anderlecht at the age of 16 and swiftly established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in English football.
His breakthrough season came in 2013 during a difficult period for the club, making 35 appearances and finding the net four times. The performances earned him a new five-year deal, but subsequent managerial changes and squad rebuilds saw his opportunities dwindle. Loan moves to Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland followed – in 2015 and 2016 – before he secured a permanent switch to Real Sociedad in 2017, while the 30-year-old moved to Sevilla five years later.
However, he has struggled for game-time this season and his fortunes have now taken another turn for the worse. The midfielder was withdrawn after just 34 minutes of Monday’s 2-1 loss to Espanyol due to a muscle problem. Shortly afterwards, Januzaj posted on Instagram: “Thank you all for your messages, and support. It wasn’t what I expected at the moment because of all the effort and work done day-to-day, but I have to accept it keep working and fighting.
“I’m sure I’ll come back stronger than ever, and it’s definitely not an easy time for me. When you love what you do, being forced to stop is hard to accept. I will give it all to come back even stronger. This challenge is just one more step on my path, now it’s time to face it with determination, patience and the desire to return as soon as possible. Thank you for being there through the good times and the hardest one, too.”
The Belgian’s career looks to have taken a downturn since his highly-praised stint at Old Trafford, with injuries consistently hampering his progress. Eric Harrison, former United youth coach, once compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo in 2013, stating: “Januzaj is outstanding and I think he is similar to Cristiano Ronaldo.” However, Januzaj was unable to impress Jose Mourinho with his skills. His ex-manager David Moyes loaned him to Sunderland, where he gave the winger some tough love.
In 2016, Moyes told Januzaj: “I’ve said to Adnan, you need to stop blaming everyone else for what’s gone wrong,” and “I’ve told Adnan to look at himself and realise that it’s down to him to change it. It can’t always be the manager’s fault or be the coach’s fault that he hasn’t progressed. Adnan’s got to ask has he prepared right, has he got himself in the best condition, has he trained well enough?”. And, when he’s got his opportunity, has he played well enough? In a lot of cases the answer has to be; ‘no’.”
