Sebastian Nanasi is on his second consecutive January tour with the national team. A lot has happened between then and now.
Before last year’s camp in Portugal, the winger had been on loan to Kalmar FF. Then the team’s coach Henrik Rydström took over Malmö FF and showed great confidence in Nanasi there as well.
He thanked for that.
When Sebastian Nanasi is now with the national team in Cyprus, he has won SM gold with MFF during a season where he scored eleven goals and seven assists and was named the Allsvenskan’s best player.
– I had good self-confidence at the last camp as well, but now when you come here with this boost in your back, it is clear that you feel more comfortable, without being comfortable, he says and continues:
– If you have done something well, the expectations of you are raised. It’s good because you have to cope with that pressure.
That you were named player of the year in the Allsvenskan – does it feel like you got your recognition?
– Yes, in a way. What I proved last season, I haven’t really proved in another season, or maybe at the end of the season in Kalmar. But to be able to be in a team where you really go to win the gold, and to be able to deliver at that level, that’s something I’ve proven now that I haven’t really done before. To be with a big club in a battle for gold, with the pressure that exists, and to be able to handle it and perform.
For a 21-year-old offensive player who has scored points in the Allsvenskan, won gold and been awarded player of the year, foreign clubs usually show interest. Now the January window has opened and recently transfer guru Fabrizio Romano wrote on “X” that Nanasi could leave Malmö FF in 2024 and that interest is growing.
– I know there is interest. I had a very good season. So I understand there is interest. But I try to shut it out and put it aside. I try to focus on what I can, he says and continues:
– I am very comfortable where I am. I am very comfortable with myself with what I have done and what can happen. There is a very clear plan for what my career should look like and what step to take. It is very important that everything goes right. When that happens, we’ll see. I live in the moment, he says.
What is the next step for you?
– Hard to say. Regardless of what it will be, if it will be or when it will be, I am very comfortable in the way I play football. I know I will work it out.
Are you sure you can handle the next step?
– Regardless of what the next step is, it will be a challenge. It always happens when you end up in a new place. It is also a challenge in Malmö now that you are entering a new season. It’s about continuing to perform at a high level. Otherwise, there are others who want to out-compete one. But I have a lot of faith in myself and I think I will solve it.
If Malmö FF sells Sebastian Nanasi, the parent club Kristianstad FC will rejoice. In an interview in P4 Kristianstad, club manager Sven Larsson says that the club will be debt-free if Nanasi is sold, due to the fact that you will then receive education grants.
– It would have been very fun to be able to contribute to Kristianstad and to give back a little to the club where I grew up and played until I was 16. So it would have been a lot of fun, says Nanasi to Fotbollskanalen.
Their club manager says that if you make Kristianstad debt-free, they will send you a cream cake as a thank you – do you like cream cake?
– Haha, yes, I like most things that are sweet, unfortunately. They have to wait until after the season in that case. It will be best that way. I have to try to hold on now.
But Malmö FF don’t seem to be in a hurry to sell their technical winger. The contract extends over 2025 and at Malmö FF’s members’ meeting, chairman Anders Pålsson said that the club had not received an offer for the 21-year-old and that they are in no rush to sell.
– I understand that there is no rush. They sold Hugo (Larsson) and money has never been a problem in that way. And I know I was a contributing player last year. There is also a Champions League qualifier ahead of us. So I fully understand. If something is to happen, everything must be right for all parties, says Nanasi.
When Nanasi leaves Cyprus and flies back to Malmö to start pre-season training, it could be a fond reunion in the dressing room. According to Fotbolldirekt and Expressen, Ricardo Friedrich is ready for MFF.
Sebastian Nanasi was a teammate with the goalkeeper in Kalmar FF and now hopes that they will be teammates again.
– It would have been fun. It is a very good goalkeeper. He was probably the Allsvenskan’s best goalkeeper two seasons ago. So it’s a very good goalkeeper we’re getting into the team. He was the first to come to me in Kalmar and talk to me and say that if I needed anything I could always come to him. So he is a very nice person, he says.
At the beginning of the interview you said that there is a very clear plan for what your career will look like – what are your plans?
– At some point in the future, I want to play on the big stages and compete to win titles at that level as well. That’s the goal.
You say you live in the moment, but if you look ahead for a short moment – where do you see the end, how far can you go?
– All the way is the goal. Step by step, but all the way.
What is the whole way?
– To stand as Champions League winners, for example.
Is that the dream?
– Yes, actually. To be able to participate at the very highest level and play for the very biggest titles… it is clear that it is one of the dreams.
2024-01-05 09:01:00
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