Cory Varney: The curious case of Danel Sinani

He found Joe Efford down the wing and sat back, watching from afar as the American hit the byline and played the ball into Michael Frey – the talismanic Swiss frontman who, at times, had threatened to keep Waasland-Beveren in Belgium’s top flight on his own – with his back to goal.

Sensing his moment, Sinani found the space – as he so often does – and drilled Frey’s cutback into the bottom corner, levelling the scores in the second, decisive leg of Belgium’s relegation/promoting play-off at 2-2.

It had started so well for the hosts, after Frey put them ahead from the spot – as he had done a week earlier in the first leg, which ended 1-1. Come the interval, however, second tier runners-up, RFC Seraing, had the lead, that was until Sinani made his mark.

Now, in an ideal world, this piece would now go on and embark on an engaging, entertaining retelling of just how Sinani wound up being Waasland-Beveren’s hero, inspiring them to a great escape which, for weeks, had looked against the odds.

That, however, was not how the rest of the game played out. They went on to lose 5-2.

This writer did not get the story he had spent all season waiting for, having decided to put pandemic frustrations to good use and put in the work for a follow-up to an initial story, detailing Sinani’s backstory as one of the more intriguing Carrow Road arrivals last year.

The process has involved watching more or less all of the games Sinani has played this season, developing a newfound respect for scouts, while growing oddly attached to both Waasland-Beveren and Luxembourg.

As one of the youngest squads in Europe, while getting to grips with plenty of changes to the squad and regularly facing having to score 2, 3 or even 4 goals to get anything out of a game, life has not been easy for Beveren this season.

Danel Sinani will aim to impress in pre-season for the Canaries (Image: Focus Images Limited)

Even then, it’s arguable they still had enough quality to stay up with the likes of Nordin Jackers in goal, Louis Verstraete in midfield, Michael Frey, Aboubakary Koita, Daan Heymans and Sinani himself all impressing over the course of the season.

It still took something of a miracle, however, to even get them in the play-offs after a dramatic last day which saw Beveren leapfrog Royal Excel Mouscron into 17th place after a 2-1 win at Leuven while their relegation rivals lost 4-2 at Club Brugge.

All in all, it has been quite the environment for the Norwich loanee to get his first taste of a full season of professional football.

“A special season for my development,” was how Sinani summed it up, speaking with the Luxemburger Wort publication as the dust settled on the season.

Swapping winning titles in Luxembourg with Dudelange, topping the scoring charts and playing in the Europa League, as well as the prospect of a promotion battle in England, for a relegation fight in Belgium has proven to be a “completely different world”.

“Mentally it was exhausting,” Sinani admitted. “But I think the experience will take me further.”

Overall, he started just 10 times for Waasland-Beveren in the league, while coming off the bench eight times, scoring three goals with one assist. There was one game in the cup, along with both of those play-off games where Sinani scored his fourth in Belgium.

Alongside this, he’s found the net three times for Luxembourg and recorded one assist in games across the Nations League and World Cup qualifying.

It’s a season that has basically played out in two chunks.

The first came after his initial loan move, building on a promising full debut against Genk with three goals on international duty. He was denied a hat-trick by the offside flag against Cyprus, before scoring a superb winner away to Montenegro. His first goals for Beveren followed soon after with a consolation in a 4-1 defeat to Gent and rubber stamping the points with the second in a 2-0 win against Oostende.

A hip injury picked up in the next game, however, sparked a struggle for Sinani to get himself back into Nicky Hayen’s struggling side on a regular basis. Another mental challenge to contest with, he told the Luxemburger Wort.

The March international break ended up proving key to reviving his season, with Luxembourg winning 1-0 away at Republic of Ireland – which did not surprise this writer whatsoever – before Sinani got an assist for Gerson Rodrigues to open the scoring against Portugal in what ended up being a 3-1 defeat.

In the first game back, away to Oostende, an early injury to Aboubakary Koita saw Sinani handed a chance and he took it, opening the scoring and putting in a man-of-the-match display with Hayen proclaiming afterwards, “I hope we have now seen the real Sinani”.

It got him back in the starting eleven where he’d stay for the rest of the season, finally notching a first assist for Beveren after delivering a perfect free-kick onto Michael Frey’s head against Kortrijk, before running himself into the ground on that final day.

So, four goals and one assist for Waasland-Beveren across what ended up being 21 appearances in all competitions.

While perhaps not the most eye-catching return, it’s worth putting the loan into context.

Manuel Cardoni, an old mentor of Sinani’s, told Belgian football site, walfoot, in November he’d have liked him to leave Luxembourg a couple of years earlier than he did.

“His career is going step by step,” Cardoni explained. “We should not expect him to perform at Manchester City now, but if he had left Luxembourg in 2018, he would have already passed this season [referring to the loan to Belgium].”

While arguably behind in his development, Sinani has still shown he has all the attributes to play for a Daniel Farke Norwich City side over the course of the season.

His talent is not in question. He’s a great passer and can deliver a particularly excellent set piece, which is the main reason he’s averaged more key passes per game and per 90 minutes than any of his Waasland-Beveren teammates. He’s unfortunate to just have one assist to his name.

He has a knack of creating space for himself and others, while he’s also tenacious, not shying away from his defensive work – especially during those final games of the season.

The key is putting it together on a consistent basis.

After two international games against Norway and Scotland in June, he will return to Norwich in pre-season and he wants to try and stake his claim.

In that interview with Luxemburger Wort, he explained that while he’s under no illusions of how difficult it will be – considering the competition – he wants to come and show what he can do, apply what he’s learned and earn a place in the team.

“I don’t know,” he conceded, when asked whether he has a chance to play for his parent club next season. “I know, however, that I will step on the gas.”

That has already been evidenced by the step up in his running towards the end of the season. He revealed that regular conversations with those at Norwich, who have been watching his games and giving him feedback, brought about a need to improve his “running readiness”.

In the final game of the season, as well as the first leg of the play-off away at Seraing, he topped the charts for distance covered – exceeding 11km both times.

He’s pointed out that a year ago Norwich wanted him, so they’re under no illusions of what he can do. Now it’s up to him to go and show exactly what that is.