The performances of Hoffenheim’s 21-year-old midfielder Nadiem Amiri in the Bundesliga this season, has alerted the attention of some of England’s most prominent clubs. Julian Nagelsmann may be reluctant to allow the £20 million-rated player to leave. But if any of Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur or Arsenal, match that valuation, he may have to concede that Amiri’s future lies in England.
Amiri was born in south-west Germany, in Ludwigshafen, the birthplace and home of the late German chancellor Helmut Kohl. Ludwigshafen itself does not have a professional side, so it was no surprise when the prodigiously talented Amiri was snapped up by Hoffenheim, a team and a city, a 40-minute drive down the A6.
Amiri was 16 when he joined Hoffenheim to play with their under-17 side. His innate penchant for attacking football, and his ability to do it, where what caught the eye at his boyhood club Mannheim. Mannheim, who include former German international and the country’s current Under-21 manager, Stefan Kuntz, as a former manager, were Amiri’s local side growing up. The briefest of jaunts across the Rhine River separating the two cities
Transferring his potential with his local side to the Hoffenheim Under-17’s was done with apparent ease. Under the tutelage of former Bundesliga defender Jens Rasiejewski, Amiri was retained by the club and was part of the side that won the Under-19 Bundesliga with Nagelsmann at the helm.
His ascent to the first team was inevitable. Nagelsmann would follow and continue to work with Amiri. On the international scene he has also tasted success at the elite level, a late substitute in Germany’s 1-0 over Spain in June in the final of the European Championships in Poland.
This season has seen Amiri become a focal point of the teams attacking prowess, and has scored four goals in 19 appearances. Amiri’s game though could do with more work on his finishing and final touch at times, but he is an adroit attacker, who would add genuine class to any side.
Amiri’s parents were forced to flee from a war-ravaged Afghanistan in the 1980’s. In an interview with Bundesliga.com the midfielder was cognisant of what his parents gave up for a better life for their family.
“It's very hard to be forced to leave your family at a young age, and go to a foreign country where you don't speak the language. But my parents were determined to make something of their lives. To do that you need willpower, you need heart, you have to be ready to work and learn the language. You can't just wait for a solution to pop up out of thin air."
Amiri seems grounded and capable. Seen by some as being in the same mould as Deli Alli; a move to north London would be a significant boost to the midfield of either Spurs or Arsenal. Man Utd though, are also keeping tabs on the player. If things do heat up in the transfer window, expect to hear plenty more on the dexterous midfielder.
