I’ll be like Cristiano Ronaldo – Ghana-born German Iddrisu

• Posted on December 23, 2013December 23, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

The Wolfsburg striker idolises the Real Madrid talisman and wants to step into his boots as he seeks to make his father, a former Ghana international, proud in Germany

At age 17, Razak Iddrisu is one of the rising stars in German football. He follows Kevin-Prince and Jerome Boateng and others as players of Ghanaian origin to feature and make name for themselves for the European side at various levels.
 OLD FRIENDS | Razak Iddrisu with his German team-mates

“It was great to get a call-up to the German Under-17 national team, I played my first game for them against Ukraine, I came into the game in the second half and set up the goal. In the next game I won the match with them,” Iddrisu recalled in an interview with Goal Ghana.

He has earned six caps for Germany and has already been tagged as the next biggest thing in German football. “The feeling was good when I got the invite to play for German. I was very happy because I got a big platform to showcase my talent,” he disclosed.

His dad is Abu Iddrisu, who scored the winning goal which helped Ghana to win the 1995 U-17 World Cup in Ecuador against Brazil. Iddrisu believes that listening to advise will take him far.

“I might already have the talent but the most important thing is that I always listen to advise from my coaches; be very discipline and do whatever they tell me, this is one of the main things moving me.

This is the player I like. If I continue like this I will become like him. He is my role model because we play the same position and how he handles the ball is brilliant. His free kicks are also exceptional. I learn a lot from him. – Iddrisu

“In my football career, my father has been the one behind me and offering me the needed support and encouragement; he won the Under-17 World Cup with Ghana in 1995 and played for Koln but because of injuries he had to cut short his playing time. I am ready to go all out and reach greater heights and make my father proud,” the cool looking Wolfsburg attacker emphasised.
Iddrisu’s young career is already a success story. He has been the main man in any team he goes to due

to his efficiency on the wings and as a top striker.

“I started playing football at the age of nine for a club called Zigbok. I spent two years there and was bought by Bayer Leverkusen, there also I played for four years and Wolfsburg saw me and were interested so they signed me at the age of 15. At Zigbok and Leverkusen I was being used as a striker but at Wolfsburg I attack from the wings. I do enjoy playing anywhere in attack.”

Iddrisu, like many young players, has someone he looks up to – Cristiano Ronaldo. And he has the image of the Real Madrid star on his phone’s cover.

He said: “This is the player I like. If I continue like this I will become like him. He is my role model because we play the same position and how he handles the ball is brilliant. His free kicks are also exceptional. I learn a lot from him. I want to play for Real Madrid also in future.”

The budding forward marries education with the beautiful game perfectly well. “I love football and education and I am combining all of them because there should be a life after football and also anything can happen in the game. I go to school in the morning and go to training in the afternoon. Aside the two, I don’t have interest in any other thing.”

The youth football development structure in Germany seems to have shaped the career of the youngster and he is ready to have a go at the senior team should he be invited. “Youth football development in Germany helps a lot and you as a player you need to have ideas, be determined, ready to learn and also have an aim of going to the top.”
 With our man, Edmund Okai Gyimah

“I have enjoyed myself at the U-19 (Wolfsburg) and now I am fit and normal after the injury. I can get my chances and prove myself in order to make a quick progress and catch the eyes of the senior team coach. I will do my best to get there and the future will tell how it goes.”

The teenager, who holds both Ghanaian and German passports, said he is already looking forward to next summer’s World Cup clash between Ghana and Germany.

“In the Black Stars set up, I like Kevin-Prince Boateng very much. I am really looking forward to the World Cup. Ghana can upset Germany because the German team is not as strong as they were in 2006 and 2010,” Iddrisu stated.

-By Edmund Okai Gyimah