Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
‘we just cannot afford to relax’
‘No, I’ll try you as a centre-back’. So I stayed there.”
In 2019, he had the opportunity to move to Wolfsburg.
“For sure, it was tough, but I was pretty sure that I wanted to do it,” he says. “I wanted to be a professional football player and I thought it would be a good move for me; going to another country, learning another type of football.
“I wanted to learn other things that maybe in Spain I might not learn.
“It was also hard for my family. I had a talk with them, because I remember my mum wasn’t really sure. She was like, ‘Germany, you don’t know the language, it’s going to be tough’.
“I told her I was pretty sure I wanted to do it. When she saw that I was really clear in my mind that I wanted to do it, she said okay.
“I had some really good years in Germany and, thinking about what I did, I am really happy I did that.”
Garcia Macnulty’s first-team breakthrough came during a loan spell at NAC Breda in the Dutch second-tier, during a season-long loan spell in 2022/23.
“I had a tough year, the last year in Germany, because I was training with the first-team but I don’t think I was ready yet to play for them,”he says.
Playing
“They didn’t have an Under-23 team, they had an Under-19 team, so I was just playing with them in the youth league, but I saw myself a little bit above that.
“In the summer the NAC opportunity came. NAC was such a great club, because they gave me that chance when I had zero experience, and I really enjoyed my time there.”
He did so well that top-flight Zwolle swooped last summer at the end of his loan spell.
He quickly established himself in the first-team, showed his versatility by moving to leftback to cover an injury, and just months after his move he was awarded a two-year extension to his contract.
“I’m very happy for that,” Garcia Macnulty says.“it gives you a lot of confidence. I am very happy for the trust they have given me.
“I have put so much work into this, so to see that they give you two years more, you see that your work is paying off. I am very grateful to PEC, but I cannot stop at this, I want more.”
So what does he see in his future? “I always had a dream to play in the Premier League. For me it is the best league in the world,”he replies.
Watching
“And also I would like to go back to Spain and play in the Spanish league. That’s where I come from, it’s where I grew up, I grew up watching the Spanish league.
“So it would be good to go back there and play in the league that I have watched.”
On the international front, he adds:“i hope the new generation, I hope everyone is really looking at us and I hope it is another successful generation, qualifying for European Championships.
“I hope we bring Ireland back to where we deserve to be.”
ANSELMO Garcia Macnulty is targeting a historic qualification for the Under-21 European Championships this year.
Ireland are currently second in Group A, just one point behind Italy midway through the 10game campaign.
And if it wasn’t for the concession of a deflected injury-time equaliser against Italy in Turner’s Cross last November, Jim Crawford’s men would be clear of the rest.
However, Garcia Macnulty is determined to progress, with games coming up against San Marino in March, before a busy autumn schedule.
“In our heads, being the first in this age group to qualify for the European Championships would be huge,” he says.
“I think we have such a great group of guys, talented and so proud to represent Ireland.
You can see that in the games.
Draw
“Against Italy we didn’t deserve to draw. I would never think Italy would celebrate a draw against Ireland.
“We’ve five games left and we need to perform. We cannot relax because the group is very tight.
“But I do believe a lot that we can achieve the goal of qualifying.”