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Ermir Lenjani (34) has been back in Switzerland since the summer – and hardly anyone has noticed! “I have always been discreet, not the type to expose my life to the public,” says the Winterthur resident. The end of his career is approaching, but he is looking for one last challenge before hanging up his football boots in the summer.
Winterthur, GC, St. Gallen, Rennes, Nantes, Sion, again GC and the Turkish club Ümraniyespor are the names of the Kosovo native, who played more than 40 international matches for Albania and took part in the European Championships in 2016. “Nobody counted on me with the juniors in Winterthur. Although I had a good left foot, I was too slender and too light. I didn’t stand out. But I wanted to work. And that is what I am most proud of in my life,” says Lenjani.
Thanks to his hard work, Lenjani had the upper hand in Winterthur and aroused the interest of the WG. “Of course I said yes, but I wasn’t at that level yet.” Ciriaco Sforza, with whom he still gets along well today, sends him back to Winterthur. Then Lenjani tries it out in St. Gallen – and really takes off. He is also causing a stir in Europe with the Eastern Swiss team; the Albanian association pays attention to him, just like YB. But Lenjani rejects the Bernese and moves to Rennes in Ligue 1.
Teammate of Ousmane Dembélé
In northwest France he will be a teammate of Ousmane Dembélé. «I knew Rennes had a great training center, but he was unbeatable… He had incredible pace! He came to training, left foot, right foot and all at a speed of 2000 km/h!” After just a few months, Dembélé moved to Dortmund. Lenjani, on the other hand, cannot stand up for himself and is loaned out to Nantes before returning to Sion in Switzerland after two seasons in France.
He climbed to the Super League with the rankings before embarking on a second adventure abroad: he calls the move to Turkey to Ümraniyespor a great experience. «The Turkish league is very interesting. I lived in a beautiful city, we regularly played in great stadiums against great players.” In the summer he returned to Switzerland after a year – and speculated. He and his agent were a bit late, no club showed interest in signing him Since then, he has been keeping fit under the guidance of fitness trainers and is waiting for a suitable offer. “My goal is clear: I am making myself available to a Swiss professional club, so that I can play at a high level for six months and then prepare for the time.”
Lenjani then wants to continue working in football. As a coach, he has an A-diploma and is also trained as a sports manager. And he has a lot of experience to look back on. This also applies to more than forty international matches with Albania. He was also part of the squad in the first match of the European Championship qualifiers that ended in November. “I have not played a minute yet and I am realistic that I will not be part of the selection for the European Championship next summer. But I am the first fan and very proud to have been part of this story.”
EM 2016 as a highlight in his career
The 2016 European Championship is the highlight of Lenjani’s career. Even today, more than seven years later, he still gets goosebumps when he thinks back to his weeks in France. ‘I have no words to describe this. Thousands of Albanians were in the stadiums; it was our first time participating in a final tournament. And we almost reached the round of 16 as the best third team, it was so close…» He played on in the 1-0 start defeat against Switzerland. Under coach Gianni Die Biasi he also plays against France (0:2) and Romania (1:0).
Lenjani has had a successful career because, as he says, he has used 100 percent of his potential. “There are talented players who rely on their talent, I couldn’t afford that. So my message is that you have to do everything you can, work seriously and also make the right decisions at the right time. You shouldn’t go abroad too early!”
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
