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Yusuf and the dreams: Yusuf Damir will be Fuda's ace against Israel?
Only in June did Yusuf Damir turn 18, but after making an earlier-than-expected debut in Barcelona's senior team, the Austrian national team midfielder may join as a substitute against Israel.
About the diamond that drives Austria crazy and has already won comparisons to Messi
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Austria national team
Barcelona in football
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Saturday, 04 September 2021, 14:29
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"The big dream is to play for Barcelona in due course, but that will not be the next step. The transfer to the Bundesliga is likely, and we are already in contact with a number of teams. It is important to move forward gradually," said Yusuf Damir's agent in late 2020.
However, the dream came true much faster than planned. In July, Barcelona suddenly announced that they had summed up the loan of Damir from Rapid Vienna for one season for only 500,000 euros, with an option to purchase his season ticket for 10 million euros. According to the statement, the 18-year-old Austrian boy was supposed to join Barça's reserve team in the third division, but here too there was an unexpected turnaround. Damir impressed coach Ronald Koeman in training, and the Dutchman decided to include him in the first squad right now. Two weeks ago, the new diamond made his debut in the Spanish league, at Bilbao's difficult stadium, showed confidence and was involved in a number of brilliant moves in the 28 minutes he received. Not for nothing did the Catalans equalize and achieve a 1: 1 draw precisely when he was on the grass.
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The dream came true faster than planned.
Yusuf Damir (Photo: GettyImages, Quality Sport Images)
By this time, Leo Messi was already in Paris, in the star-studded Qatari squad of Saint-Germain, after the painful and dramatic farewell to the Camp Nou.
For Damir, it was a huge disappointment.
When he signed for Barcelona, he was particularly excited about the possibility of training alongside his great idol.
After all, the Argentine was and remains his ultimate role model.
Ever since Joseph started kicking a ball in the streets of Vienna, he has always worn Blaugrana's 10 shirt, with Messi's name on his back.
Like many children around the world, he imagined how he would recreate the flea's exploits and one day win the Golden Ball.
Not all kids have a chance to do that, but Damir was a little different.
His talent stood out in the distance, and at a fairly early stage in Rapid's academy he was indeed given the obligatory nickname.
He was the "Austrian Messi."
Because his style is really very reminiscent of the Argentine in his youth.
Demir is short, slender, very agile, left-handed, dribbles gracefully, loves to play both on the right wing and in the center, and also specializes in making stationary kicks.
When the ball gets to his feet, there is an expectation of something special.
He does not like routine solutions and tends to go all out - pretentious hacks, sophisticated dedications going forward, kicks from all ranges.
He always attracted the defensive players, squeezed a lot of offenses, and also cleared areas for his teammates.
Scouts flocked to Rapid’s youth games to follow him closely.
His name was already linked two years ago to Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United.
The young Austrian star, tonight in the senior against Israel.
Damir (Photo: GettyImages, Franz Kirchmayr / SEPA.Media)
Damir had nothing to do with his peers, and he always played with older ones. In early 2019, when he was still 15, Rapid took him to a prestigious tournament in Germany for teams up to the age of 19. The guy marched the greens and whites to the final and won the Outstanding Player title. A year later, he again went to the tournament in question, and was again crowned the outstanding player by a huge margin. At this point, no one in Austria was surprised anymore, because in December 2019, Demir became the youngest Rapid player ever to play in the senior league.
As of June 2020, he was already an integral part of the squad and excited in the Bundesliga, even though Rapid was careful and made sure to incorporate him mostly as a replacement. He managed to score 7 goals in all competitions, where the hearts with the ostentatious style and the embarrassed smile, were invited to the young team, and in the media began a campaign to summon him to the senior team. This was especially important because Demir could in principle choose to represent Turkey, his parents' homeland, and in Austria there was considerable pressure to take this option off the table once and for all.
Would justify the nickname "Austrian Messi"? (Photo: GettyImages, Eric Alonso)
Indeed, coach Franco Fuda responded to the calls. Damir played 5 minutes against the Faroe Islands in the World Cup qualifiers in March, and the Turks can no longer dream of recruiting him. Fuda even included Demir in the extended squad for Euro 2020, and Rapid fans fantasized about seeing him in action in the summer - but were disappointed when his name did not appear in the final squad. And maybe that's a good thing, because the boy needed a rest for the new season, and as his agent stated, it's not really worth jumping into the deep water too fast.
No one foresaw the dramatic developments that followed, and the move to Barcelona is definitely dangerous for Damir, who needs to play regularly. On the other hand, given the fact that this is only a loan, and the price tag was very low, there will be no astronomical expectations of it at Camp Nou, and the media pressure will be quite reasonable. Under such conditions, he has nothing to lose other than one season that could be wasted, but even in the worst case he will still gain experience in training with Koeman. And in the script
The most optimistic, he will fulfill the ambitions right now, and justify his nickname on the real stage.
He remains the "only Messi" of Barcelona these days, and there is an incredible opportunity here.
The chances of that are small?
Maybe, but in Austria he is followed with great enthusiasm.
With David Alaba at Real Madrid, they have representatives in the two greats of Spain.
Then Damir became Austria's great hope, and now - after the debut in the Barcelona uniform - quite a few commentators are demanding that Mofuda give him the reins on the team, and find the right box for him.
The voices increased after a rather lukewarm game in Moldova, although a 0: 2 victory was achieved in it, and there is a reasonable basis to believe that Damir will take a significant part in the game against Israel on Saturday, probably as a substitute.
If so, fans in Haifa will be the first to witness the Austrian taxes in action in the national uniform.
This is not a trivial matter, and Koman may well follow this performance with interest.
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