Former Manchester United defender Demetri Mitchell has revealed some amusing stories about former United star Adnan Januzaj.
The pair shared time together at United
The two players were involved in the youth team shortly around the time of Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.
Mitchell joined the academy in 2013 and made one senior appearance before leaving for Blackpool in 2020. He currently plays for Exeter City in League One.
In a recent exchange on X, he revealed some interesting stories about his former teammate, Januzaj.
The Belgian international has had a more successful career, playing 63 times for the United senior team and scoring five goals.
He later moved to Real Sociedad and Sevilla in Spain. The winger also played at the World Cup for Belgium and has 15 caps for his national side.
Januzaj’s unfulfilled potential
The exciting winger broke onto the scene in the 2013-2014 season, scoring two goals in a 2-1 win over Sunderland.
His rise caught the imagination of fans, especially in the context of falling to seventh place after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement the previous season.
Nonetheless, he never really lived up to his billing and a lot of this failure to meet expectations could have come from an underlying overconfidence in his own ability.
Speaking on X, his former teammate Mitchell stated that, “Adnan once said to the manager Why do I need gym I’m going to win the ballon dor.”
Adnan once said to the manager Why do I need gym I’m going to win the ballon dor 😂 https://t.co/JT5bJpo833
— Demetri Mitchell (@demetrimitche11) July 15, 2025
He also confirmed the story that Januzaj and Andreas Pereira were once told off for not taking a reserve game seriously by shooting from corners and doing unnecessary tricks during the match.
Mitchell did praise the Belgian’s ability though and claimed, “he had that fake shot on lock though.”
Another poster then claimed that the player still had a decent career and Mitchell responded, “have to respect it he was different gravy.”
Nonetheless, Januzaj is yet another cautionary tale of how talent won’t get a footballer to the top alone.
Many who played with him and saw his rise in the United ranks would defend his ability but he did not put in the hard yards to maximise every ounce of the immense talent that he possessed.
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
