Sporting CP have completed the signing of Nestory Irankunda from Watford, with the Portuguese giants paying an initial fee of around €15m for the Australian forward. The deal, confirmed in mid-August 2026, could rise to close to €18m with performance add-ons, and Irankunda has signed a five-year contract at Alvalade that runs until 2031. Reports in Australia put his release clause at around €130m, a sign of how highly Sporting rate him. Bayern Munich, who sold Irankunda to Watford for roughly €3m two years ago, are due a sell-on percentage from this deal.
Sporting sit top of Liga Portugal after the opening two rounds of the new season and wanted more firepower added to a team that already dominates possession and territory in most games. Head coach Rui Borges confirmed the signing in person at a press conference, saying: "He's a player we wanted a lot, and I think he will add a lot to our group." Irankunda's directness and end product were the main draw — his pace can stretch tiring defences, he has a strong record for beating his man one-on-one, and he offers a genuine set-piece threat, whether starting wide in a front three or coming on to change a game.
For Watford, it is one of the biggest sales in the club's history and a huge financial win, given they paid only around €3m for Irankunda from Bayern Munich. It is still a blow for new head coach Alessio Dionisi, who loses a player capable of deciding games on his own just as the Championship season gets under way, and who now needs to find another attacking outlet from within his squad or the transfer market.
Irankunda arrives in Lisbon on the back of a breakout year. He became the youngest Australian to score at a men's World Cup when he struck in the Socceroos' 2-0 win over Türkiye in June, and that form carried over into his club football. In the Championship last season he made 44 appearances for Watford, scoring four goals and adding four assists, with three of those goals winning the club's Goal of the Month award. Fans at Vicarage Road grew used to seeing him cut in from the right and take on defenders, completing more than half of his attempted dribbles across the campaign.
At Sporting, expect Irankunda to operate mainly from the right of a front three, cutting inside onto his favoured foot, though he is comfortable playing through the middle as well. Given his age and the step up from the Championship to a title-chasing Liga Portugal side, a gradual introduction looks the most likely path, with Borges able to use him from the bench before trusting him with regular starts. On the evidence of his World Cup and his final season at Watford, Sporting have bought a player with real upside rather than a finished product.