Socceroo whizkid Nestory Irankunda has officially joined Championship club Watford, amid reported interest from Premier League trio Crystal Palace, Burnley and Leeds United.
Irankunda’s permanent switch from German giants Bayern Munich to Watford was confirmed on Friday, with the 19-year-old penning a five-year contract.
The move comes after Irankunda made 21 appearances on loan for Swiss club Grasshoppers for one goal and three assists last term. He scored four goals in three games for Bayern II for Regionalliga Bayern earlier in the campaign.
Irankunda had joined Bayern on a “long-term contract” in July 2024, but it hasn’t worked out in Germany, with Watford thrilled to land the young talent.
Writing a new story ✍️ pic.twitter.com/D5Sj51diQb
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) July 19, 2025
Watford sporting director Gianluca Nani said: “Nestory can be a very special player and we believe he can realise his potential here, with us. He is exactly the sort of profile Paulo wanted in a winger.
“Nestory was extremely sought-after and thanks to our established scouting network and connections we were able to be ahead of others in the race to sign players of this potential.
“Crucially, we were able to move quickly when opportunities like this arise and that’s been the hallmark of our successful recruitment. The player wanted to come here as he sees the pathway, he has seen how we develop young players at Watford and the vision we have for this club.
“We are absolutely delighted to have signed Nestory and he’s added further to the huge feel-good factor around the training ground.”
Irankunda has arrived in London and will wear the number 66 in the upcoming Championship season which starts in a fortnight.
Wholesome reaction 🥹
Behind-the-scenes out tomorrow 9am. pic.twitter.com/ftIdlVsWwe
— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) July 18, 2025
Austrian club Rapid Vienna have agreed to sign Socceroo Marco Tilio on loan from Celtic from the option to purchase him permanently, according to reports.
Football transfer expert Florian Plettenberg and Sky Sports are reporting the move, which had been mooted over the weekend with rumours of negotiations.
It is now understood the deal is agreed, with Rapid to be paying a loan fee of approximately £350k.
There is also scope for a permanent deal, with a clause citing if Tilio makes 20 competitive starts for Rapid that they have a £1.3m obligation fee to sign him.
Jordan Bos has also been linked with a move from Westerlo to Dutch giants Feyenoord.
Massimo Luongo has left Ipswich Town and is now spending time with Championship club Millwall with a view to a deal.
Blackburn have dropped reported interest in Hibernian’s Socceroos defender Lewis Miller.
In other news, Championship club Portsmouth have handed Adrian Segecic the number 10 shirt.
Home kit: 🔜
But first, some 🆕 squad numbers. 👀
— Portsmouth FC (@Pompey) July 18, 2025
In competitive action, in the Scottish League Cup, Apostolos Stamatelopoulos played an hour, with Johnny Koutroumbis replacing him for the final 30 in Motherwell’s 1-0 win at Stenhousemuir.
Cammy Devlin earned a 7/10 rating in Hearts’ 4-0 win at Stirling. Devlin put in a full shift.
Edinburgh Evening News wrote about Devlin: “Composed and seemed to enjoy playing as more of an anchor man, allowing McEntee to charge forward.”
Calum Nieuwenhof was a half-time sub and received only a 5/10. Edinburgh Evening News wrote: “Slotted into McEntee’s midfield place and was fairly efficient during the second half.”
In the opening weekend of Denmark’s Superliga, Mohamed Toure started and played 66 minutes for Randers who conceded late for a 1-1 draw at Vejle.
Musa Toure was an unused substitute, while Paul Izzo was absent altogether.
In Japan’s J1 League, Thomas Deng put in a full shift in Yokohama F. Marinos’ 3-0 win over Nagoya Grampus to move closer to getting out of the drop zone.
In Korea’s K League 2, Charles Lokolingoy made his debut for Chungnam Asan, coming off the bench in the 54th minute of a 5-3 loss away to Bucheon.
Lokolingoy made a good impact with an assist for the equalizing goal for 3-3 on the hour. He has made the move to Korea from Indonesian club Arema Malang.
In USA’s MLS, Aiden O’Neill played a full game in New York City’s 1-1 draw at Sporting Kansas City.
Ariath Piol started and played 62 minutes in Real Salt Lake’s 1-0 home loss to Cincinnati, for whom Brad Smith went unused.
Kye Rowles put in a full shift in DC United’s 2-1 loss at Columbus Crew, while Patrick Yazbek was a 73rd minute sub for Nashville in a 1-0 win over Toronto.
