Jānis Ikaunieks (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jānis Ikaunieks | ||
| Date of birth | 16 February 1995 | ||
| Place of birth | Kuldīga, Latvia | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
|
Current team
|
Metz | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2005–2013 | Liepājas Metalurgs | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2013–2014 | Liepājas Metalurgs | 19 | (3) |
| 2014–2015 | FK Liepāja | 32 | (23) |
| 2015– | Metz | 12 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Metz II | 14 | (4) |
| 2017 | → AEL (loan) | 10 | (1) |
| 2017–2018 | → FK Liepāja (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2011 | Latvia U-18 | 2 | (1) |
| 2013 | Latvia U-19 | 1 | (0) |
| 2014 | Latvia U-21 | 3 | (0) |
| 2014– | Latvia | 16 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 January 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 24 October 2017 |
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Jānis Ikaunieks (born 16 February 1995 in Kuldīga) is a Latvian footballer playing as an attacking midfielder for the French Ligue 1 club Metz and for the Latvia national football team.
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.
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