The second-most popular player at Manchester United has played eight minutes for the first-team. Cristiano Ronaldo is the most requested interviewee by media personnel and the second is a Manchester-born teenager who only signed his first professional contract last year.
Such is the interest in Zidane Iqbal that United have already received innumerable requests from those in the football-centric Middle East. Amid the glut of emails and calls, the club decided to conduct an in-house interview with the player on the eve of his first call-up to the Iraq national squad.
Already regarded as a trailblazer within the Asian community in professional football, on Thursday Iqbal came on for Iraq against Iran to become the 32nd current United player to play for their country. He almost didn't make the bench.
Snow disrupted Iqbal's journey to Tehran and flights were cancelled. A flight was hastily arranged via Dubai and a source who knows the player said his involvement was 'touch and go'. But Iqbal emerged in the 82nd minute of a 1-0 defeat to Iran in Tehran.
Iqbal was one of seven substitutes in the World Cup qualifier in the Azari Stadium and his only other competitive appearance was against Young Boys was in a Champions League group stage dead-rubber. Had anyone Googled 'Iraq Iran' hoping for an instant score update the results would have instead consisted of the Wikipedia entries for the 'Iraq-Iran War' and 'Iraq-Iran relations'.
The Azari Stadium was a world away from the sparse stands of Leigh Sports Village. "Delighted to have made my international debut despite the result," Iqbal wrote on his Instagram page.
The 18-year-old known as 'Zee' to friends is described as humble, intelligent and engaged for someone at an age where many teenagers are in their first year of university. "He’s not someone who is desperate to speak and certainly right now has little interest in fame or followership," a source who deals with Iqbal said.
Iqbal was born in Sale to a Pakistani father and an Iraqi mother. Sources say Iqbal's family are 'brilliant' and have rejected numerous commercial opportunities to maintain their son's focus on developing his football career. A lucrative offer to join a major club in the United Arab Emirates was also turned down last year.
Aamar Iqbal has been a significant influence on his son. He used to play football locally and Zidane would watch him before he took up the game. Aamar Iqbal still coaches and Zidane often goes down to support the sessions. Iqbal attributes his work ethic to the ethos his parents instilled in him.
A proud Mancunian, Pakistani and Iraqi, Iqbal grew up idolising Mesut Ozil on the St Margaret's CofE Primary School pitch in Whalley Range and he now studies the Barcelona midfielder Frenkie de Jong.
United spotted Iqbal at Sale United, where he was also watched by scouts from City and Liverpool, and he initially joined United's development centre before moving to the club's famed academy at the age of nine.
Iqbal plays a significant role in the PFA's Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme and regularly dials into Zoom calls to conduct Q&As with groups of children to aid their development. As one of a handful of Asian footballers in England, the reluctant talker is aware his voice still carries weight at such a callow age to inspire children of all backgrounds.
Iqbal plays Fifa with the younger members and informally regales them with his own experiences of growing up in Manchester. Iqbal already recognises his status as a role model but is grounded enough to realise he has much to achieve if he is to use his status to inspire others.
In discussions between his representatives and England scouts, Iqbal was never on their radar to pledge his allegiance to the national team. Iqbal did not represent England in any of their age groups and there was not a genuine choice to be made, with Pakistan, famed for their cricket rather than football, still yet to win a World Cup qualifier. He was sounded out by the Iraqi football association aged 15.
Iqbal trained with the United first-team in August and was in contention to make the matchday 20 at Brentford last month when Covid-19 decimated the squad. United only requested a postponement after some of their youthful squad members also tested positive.
A scorer in the 2018 Milk Cup, Iqbal was listed among United's academy intake in July 2019 and has appeared in the Uefa Youth League, EFL Trophy and Premier League 2 for United's junior teams this season. The exposure of a career debut last month predictably caused Iqbal's name to spike in Google Trends and his tweet reflecting on the privilege amassed more than 8,000 retweets.
Iqbal signed his first professional contract in April and the plan was for him to be promoted to the Under-23s. Eight months later, Iqbal was kept behind at Carrington, treated to a personal coaching tutorial by Ralf Rangnick to prepare him for his debut against Young Boys later that evening. Rather than have their pre-match meal at the Hyatt hotel, Iqbal, Shola Shoretire, Charlie Savage and Bjorn Hardley ate with Rangnick in the Carrington canteen.
The quartet then journeyed to the Hyatt with Rangnick and his staff members, where they rendezvoused with the senior players and were then ferried to Old Trafford by coach. In the 89th minute, the departing Jesse Lingard high-fived Iqbal and he crossed the white line with Savage.
Rangnick took 45 minutes to conduct his media duties with broadcasters BT Sport, other rights holders and his press conference via Zoom. Many of the players had left the stadium and Rangnick was walking through the cavernous south stand when he noticed two players stood outside his office.
It was Iqbal and Savage. They had waited to thank him.
