Nicholas Ioannou’s name gives away his nationality but the moment he opens his mouth, allowing his natural Manchester twang to escape, a whole new identity is created.
Born to a Cypriot father and English mother in Limassol, the 23-year-old defender’s journey to the verge of the Champions League has been an unusual one.
Raised in Cyprus until the age of 12, Ioannou was spotted at a football camp in Nicosia by Manchester United scouts, who brought him to England to continue his education alongside Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay. The schooling he received played a big part in Ioannou becoming a key player at Apoel Nicosia, helping them win five consecutive domestic titles.
“It was a massive move and it wasn’t expected but I was very happy and grateful for the opportunity,” he says. “I was young and looking forward to it and really wanted to live there to go to the Manchester United academy.”
Things progressed well for Ioannou at United. He captained the reserves and was optimistic of making the grade at Old Trafford until fate and David Moyes intervened during the manager’s one and only summer in charge. Ioannou was left searching for a another club at 18 after a hip injury ruled him out for four months and contributed to him not being offered a professional deal.
“The injury just took me down when I was at a young age and I’d been doing so well. I didn’t manage to get back to the way I was, so it had a big effect on my career. I felt I deserved a second chance to prove myself but that didn’t happen. I enjoyed every moment at United and it was a big part of my life. I wanted to carry on there but this is how it goes and that’s what they decided. I had to take it on the chin and move on.”
A chance to stay in England came when Stoke offered a two-year contract but Ioannou felt he would be better served returning to his homeland. A haul of medals since signing for Apoel, in addition to full international honors, have more than justified Ioannou rejecting the comfort of the Premier League.
Within months of signing for Apoel he was playing in the Champions League aged 18 and was part of the team narrowly defeated by Paris Saint-Germain. Five years on he is looking to return to the group stages but in Apoel’s way are an Ajax side who were seconds away from reaching the final last season. Apoel play them in a Champions League play-off first leg in Nicosia on Tuesday.
“It’s a great moment for Apoel; we’ve already qualified for the Europa League and we have this great chance to qualify for the Champions League,” Ioannou says. “We know how difficult it is against Ajax but it’s football. We know we will have a great game in Cyprus and then we will see what happens in Amsterdam.
“Ajax are a great side, a massive club. They have good young players. They play great football as they showed last season but they’ve lost a few players who were a big part of the team. You just have to enjoy it and see what happens, because you never know in this game.”
The loss of Frenkie de Jong to Barcelona and Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus will have an impact on Ajax but despite their ability to evolve each season this could be the perfect time to catch the Dutch side, who struggled to get past Greece’s Paok in the previous qualifying round.
“Apoel fans are great, they boost you up really fast. It’s going to be a full stadium and an incredible atmosphere, so we can’t wait,” Ioannou says. “It will be very difficult for Ajax. The fans play a big part when it comes to doing something in Europe. Apoel has played a few years in the Champions League but to beat Ajax to get to the group stages would be an amazing achievement and would be historic for the club.”
Ioannou is ready to rise to the challenge against Ajax. “We are going to play against a front three who were amazing in the Champions League. They scored some incredible goals through the competition and you just have to see what they did to Real Madrid to know how tough they will be to play against. We will try our best and see.”
Even if Apoel do lose, the booby prize would be ideal for Ioannou; by qualifying for the Europa League there is a chance he could be reunited with former teammates McTominay and Rashford and finally taste the Old Trafford atmosphere.
“If that happens it would be amazing, I’ve always wanted to play Manchester United to find out what it’s like to play in front of a full house at Old Trafford. It would be great to play against my old teammates and it would be just amazing if it happened.”
Silver linings are all very well but Ioannou is still hoping to reach cloud nine.
(The Guardian)
