Full name Jānis Ikaunieks Playing position Years Team Weight 73 kg | Number 24 Height 1.83 m Career start 2013 | |
Date of birth (1995-02-16) 16 February 1995 (age 22) Current teams Latvia national football team (Midfielder), Athlitiki Enosi Larissa F.C. (#24 / Midfielder) Similar Dāvis Ikaunieks, Chris Philipps, Matthieu Udol, Thibaut Vion | ||
Jānis Ikaunieks (born 16 February 1995 in Kuldīga) is a Latvian footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for the Greek Super League club AEL and for the Latvia national football team.
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FK Liepāja
As a youth player Ikanieks played for the youth teams of Liepājas Metalurgs, scoring 11 goals in 20 matches in the 2012 Latvian First League season and helping Liepājas Metalurgs-2 win the championship. In 2013 he was taken to the first team. Ikaunieks debuted in the Latvian Higher League. Throughout his first professional season Ikaunieks played 19 league matches, scoring three goals. After the end of the season the club was dissolved due to financial difficulties and Ikaunieks alongside other players transferred to its successor, the newly established FK Liepāja. Starting the season as a nominal substitute Ikaunieks strikingly rose to the first eleven and was named Latvian Higher League player of the month in May. On 11 June 2014 Ikaunieks scored four goals in a 7-0 victory over FC Jūrmala. All in all, he scored 23 goals in 32 league matches and became the second top scorer of the championship behind Vladislavs Gutkovskis from Skonto. In August 2014 Ikaunieks went on trial with the Croatian Prva HNL champions Dinamo Zagreb. In September he was named player of the month for the second time in the season. In October explicit interest in the player was reported for AFC Ajax, FC Metz, VfB Stuttgart and Udinese Calcio. On 5 December 2014 Ikaunieks was named the best midfielder of the season and was simultaneously voted as the best player of the 2014 Latvian Higher League.
FC Metz
On 23 December 2014 the chairman of FC Metz, Bernard Serin confirmed that Ikaunieks will join the Ligue 1 side on a four-year deal. The transfer on an undisclosed fee was officially affirmed on 7 January 2015. Ikaunieks made his debut for Metz’ first team on 20 January 2015, coming on as a substitute in the Coupe de France 1/16 finals match victory over US Avranches.
International career
Ikaunieks was a member of Latvia U-18, Latvia U-19 and Latvia U-21 football teams. He made his debut for Latvia national football team on 13 October 2014, playing all 90 minutes in a 1-1 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying draw against Turkey. It was later calculated that Ikaunieks had repeated the record of Māris Verpakovskis who debuted in 1999, being exactly 19 years, 7 months and 25 days old.
Career statistics
As of 20 November 2016Club
Individual
Personal life
His elder brother Dāvis is also a professional footballer, playing for FC Vysočina Jihlava.