England great Michael Owen believes conquering the mental side of the game could be the determining factor between 18-year-old Australian Nestory Irankunda enjoying a long career in Europe and not quite living up to his incredible potential.

As a former teenage star himself, Owen is well qualified to speak on the topic.

In 1997, a then-17-year-old Owen scored on Premier League debut for Liverpool. Just four years later the former forward took home the Ballon d’Or as the best player in the world.

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The ‘next big thing in Australian football’ is a tag that traditionally has carried a heavy weight in the post-golden generation era.

With it comes pressure, expectation and usually a move to a well-known European side – slightly ahead of schedule – thanks to the awareness of the Australian market created by five-straight appearances at the World Cup.

The risk for the purchasing club is minimal.

Australian players cost relatively minor sums and the potential reward, if that player shines, is a transfer fee worth millions.

The downside for the player is being thrown into an environment where the likelihood of a years-long cycle of loan spells is high.

Garang Kuol, for example, has struggled to make an impact at Newcastle United in the Premier League after his transfer from the Central Coast Mariners in 2023.

Daniel Arzani, after 24-appearances for Melbourne City, landed at Manchester City and was immediately loaned out to Scottish giants Celtic. An ACL injury on debut in October of 2018 cruelly halted his progress – and after a series of loan spells after his recovery, landed back in the A-League.

Only now is he starting to rebuild his career.

Both left as teenagers and now Irankunda is following the same path. His move from Adelaide United to German powerhouse Bayern Munich at just 18 years of age has placed the spotlight on his every move as a Socceroo.

Owen, who scored 40 goals in 89 appearances for England, offered some advice to players like Irankunda in an interview with Fox Sports News to promote his upcoming speaking tour of Australia – An Evening with Michael Owen.

“If I was having a chat with somebody like that, I would hardly mention the game of football in terms of what they can and what they can’t do,” Owen told Fox Sports News.

“There are lots of people that are super talented, but being talented is obviously very important; you can’t get to the top without being talented. But then if there’s a million talented people in the world, then it’s all what happens between your ears.”

Irankunda has reportedly settled into life in Germany quite well.

He finished his first pre-season at Bayern with two goals and three assists and appeared an outside chance of swiftly integrating into the first team under manager Vincent Kompany.

The South Australian has since had to bide his time in the club’s second team while he pushes for his Bundesliga debut, but good form in that environment kept him in the plans of former Socceroos boss Graham Arnold and the man currently in the role, Tony Popovic.

Challenges await though.

In Popovic’s first match in charge, against China in Adelaide earlier this month, Irankunda started the match, but was substituted for Riley McGree at half-time in what the coach called a “tactical decision” at the time.

He didn’t feature in a 1-1 draw against Japan away in Tokyo just days later.

Popovic’s system, where the wingers take up more inverted roles, doesn’t appear to play to Irankunda’s strengths, but the young gun is good enough to adapt with time.

At club level he has mainly featured in his more favoured role wide on the right.

“There’s a million things you could tell them, a million experiences that you could share with them,” Owen said.

“They live their own life, and we’ve got to understand their background and how they take to pressure.

“Yes, you could always give them little tips on how to improve, but it would all be about their mindset.

“How do they think going into a game: What happens if you make a mistake in the first minute? There’s another 89 minutes to go. Do you curl up in a ball or have you got coping strategies?

“A lot comes with experience. I learned some over time, but I also had a huge bank of know-how, of ability and mental strength to fall back on if I made a mistake in a game.”

There’s also hurdles off the pitch to conquer.

This generation of footballers are more active on social media than perhaps any other in the history of the game.

It gives them access to feedback, both positive and negative, quickly and in great quantity.

During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Arnold urged his players to stay off social media, warning it disrupted their mental preparation for games.

Asked if he felt sorry for this current crop of players when it comes to the vast array of comments they get online, Owen had an interesting take.

“I don’t feel sorry for them,” he said.

“We had our own pressures. Our press were vicious, the pressure was huge; probably as much, if not even more back then.

“I feel sorry for young people in general with social media because everybody is under pressure to look good. You’re always getting it fed down your throat. So, I feel sorry for this generation of people because I think everybody feels that pressure, but no, I don’t feel sorry for footballers with social media.

“They can be on it, or they can be off it. They’ve got the choice. They can create their own image.

“We had no choice. We had our image created for us by the press. If they wanted to put a turnip on our head on the front pages of all our media, they could do it and they did it.”

The 44-year-old, now plying his trade as a pundit, will tour Australia next month for a series of speaking engagements.

‘An evening with Michael Owen’ will stop in Perth, the Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne; recounting a career that took him from Merseyside to Madrid and Manchester with stops at Newcastle and Stoke along the way as well.

The first show will be at Perth’s Ascot Racecourse on November 20.