Former Manchester United wonderkid Adnan Januzaj has hit out at those who have questioned his mentality, insisting that he will prove critics “chatting sh**” about him wrong.
The Belgium international winger made his first-team breakthrough under David Moyes in 2013/14, and went on to make 63 appearances for the club.
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Januzaj was subsequently touted as one of the best youngsters in Europe, but he played less under Moyes’ replacement, Louis van Gaal, and was sent out on loan to Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland, before being sold by Jose Mourinho in the summer.
He moved to Real Sociedad for a fee of around £10 million, and Januzaj is now looking forward to proving his critics wrong.
“These are the people that don’t know anything about football,” he told The Independent, regarding his doubters.
“I don’t care, I keep working hard. You can only go in one direction, and that is to shut those people up. Once you do it, they will look ridiculous.
“It will feel amazing, I will feel very good because those people were chatting sh*t about me.
“If anything, I’m even happier because it gives me more power. It gives me the feeling: I want to show these people that if they want to talk badly of me, I’ll show them. It’s a challenge for me, I don’t mind. They can say whatever, I know that it is not true.”
Januzaj has also batted away suggestions that he is not committed to making the most of his undoubted talent.
“I gave up a lot,” Januzaj said.
“Everyone likes to go out with friends and that kind of stuff, but I always had that mindset of football and people behind me that were very strict with me. My dad was very strict.
“He always told me: ‘Do you want to be a professional? Because this is how it is going to be'. I wanted to be a professional player. Now, I give a lot of credit to him because he is the one that always pushed me further and further to try and become better and better.”