Who is Nadiem Amiri? The next Roberto Firmino on the radar of Manchester United, Tottenham and Arsenal
Hoffenheim midfielder Amiri is on the radar of a host of European giants after impressing at the Bundesliga giants
THE next Roberto Firmino? That is certainly the ambition of talented Hoffenheim midfielder Nadiem Amiri.
Back in 2016, he told Bild: "To go as far as Firmino would be a dream. He is my idol.
"I look up to him and follow everything he does. We write to each other from time to time, he gives me some tips.”
It was with Hoffenheim that Firmino found success before moving to Liverpool, and there’s no doubt Amiri would love to follow in his footsteps and move to the Premier League.
That could well be possible in January and our friends at Football Whispers have profiled the in-demand 21-year-old.
Who is Nadiem Amiri and where does he come from?
Born in Ludwigshafen, Germany in 1996, Amiri wasn’t always keen on being a footballer.
“I was six years old, and my brother played at Ludwigshafener SC,” he told Radio Regenbogen.
“I did not want to start with football, because I was actually rather the karate type.
“But then the coach of my brother told my mother that she should bring me to training. So I still kept doing karate training and then started with football.”
Before he joined Hoffenheim, Amiri was in the youth systems of Ludwigshafener SC and Waldhof Mannheim. He also had a spell with the well-renowned Kaiserslaturen.
The latter’s decision to release him appears a real error in judgment, but there is no doubt their loss has been Hoffenheim’s gain.
Amiri said: “I was dropped from Kaiserslautern. The manager didn’t want me in his plans. It was hard for me. I played for Kaiserslautern for five years.
"That said, now it’s motivation for me to show them what I can do."
Channeling that desire and ambition to prove those at Kaiserslautern wrong, Amiri has flourished at Hoffenheim, who he joined aged 15 in 2012.
He shone under Julian Nagelsmann, who is now his boss at senior level.
Amiri was a key part of the Hoffenheim youth side than won the national Under-19 title in 2013-14, before they finished as runners-up the following season.
That saw him called up to the first team and he made his debut against Wolfsburg in February 2015.
The midfielder finished the 2014-15 season with seven appearances, but he admits he found the step up to senior level hard, saying: “At first I didn’t find it too difficult, but after two or three months I began to struggle physically.
"My body needed to get used to the extra workload.”
But that taste of first-team football gave him a base for his real breakthrough in 2015-16, in which Nagelsmann took charge midway through the season.
Under a coach that knew him well, Amiri became a much more prominent figure in the side, making 25 appearances, scoring four goals and providing four assists in 2015/2016.
The following season he made 33 Bundesliga appearances, albeit with a slightly smaller return of two goals and four assists as Hoffenheim finished in the Champions League qualification spots.
But that lower goal return was due to him switching positions.
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Originally an attacking midfielder, Nagelsmann saw Amiri as someone who could play deeper in a more withdrawn role, due to his control of the ball in tight spaces.
It’s a position in which he thrived alongside Kerem Demirbay last season, and that has continued this term.
Despite impressing for Hoffenheim, the 21-year-old is yet to feature at senior level for the German national side.
But he has played at every age group from Under-18 to Under-21 – the midfielder came off the bench in this summer’s European Under-21 Championships final as Germany beat Spain.
Amiri is also eligible for Afghanistan as his parents were born there but a full cap for Die Mannschaft isn’t likely to be far off.
How much will he cost?
Hoffenheim wouldn’t want to to sell him, but transfer fees are arguably less inflated in Germany than they are in England.
Sunsport revealed that Amiri is a Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham transfer target.
And they are confident a £20m bid could tempt Hoffenheim into selling their Germany Under-21 star.
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Where is his most likely destination in January?
Manchester United could be looking for a new midfielder after they were dominated in the middle of the park by Manchester City on Sunday.
Meanwhile Henrikh Mkhitaryan is also out of favour after failing to start a match since their 1-0 loss at Chelsea in early November.
But a move to Tottenham could also be tempting, with Mauricio Pochettino having a much better record of bringing youngsters through than Mourinho.
What’s more, with both clubs in the Champions League, that could give them an advantage over Arsenal as they try to attract Amiri to England.