When Ireland and Como 1907’s Naj Razi got called into training last Sunday afternoon he thought it was for a routine recovery session.

But the Tallaght teenager soon discovered he’d be making a huge step in his emerging career when he was requested to join Cesc Fabregas’ first-team squad to take on Italian giants AC Milan on Tuesday night.

For Naj, it was a glimpse into what could be before him, involved in a Serie A squad for the first time and rubbing shoulders with some of Europe’s elite.

It was just under a year ago the former Shamrock Rovers teenager swapped Dublin 24 for Lake Como for a reported six-figure fee and now he was involved in his first match-day squad in Italy’s top flight. 

The 18-year old told FAI.ie how the last few days unfolded, going from facing Virtus Entella on Saturday to on the bench against 19 times champions Milan. “I had a match on the Saturday with the Under-19s and I got a text afterwards saying I had a recovery session with the first team on Sunday,” explained Naj. “I thought it was a routine recovery session with the first team and they just needed players, but I went in, got my gear and I got told I had to go in for video analysis. And that’s when I knew I could be involved because you only get asked to do that unless you’re part of the squad and that’s when it clicked in my head I could be in the squad. 

“My Under-19s coach then told me I was going to be on the bench with the first team and I was like ‘wow’. I told all my family back in Dublin and they were just delighted.

“My dad didn’t believe me, neither did my brother. They kept saying ‘it’s not true’ but when they realised I was being real they were so happy for me.

“To be on the bench against a top team like AC Milan, one of the best teams in the world, it’s amazing. You’re looking out on the pitch and you’re seeing Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leāo, it’s crazy. It’s a dream come true.”

The result wasn’t to be for Como with the aforementioned Hernandez and Leāo completing a turnaround 2-1 win for Milan.

For Naj, being involved in a match-day squad has given him the taste for more, he said: “It was just amazing to be involved because that’s where I want to be. My team mates were telling me to ‘be ready’ and that’s exactly what the manager [Cesc Fabregas] said to me too, ‘be ready’. I’ve worked hard with the Under-19s at Como and I just have to keep pushing myself to make my first-team debut.”

Naj’s journey to within touching distance of a Serie A debut goes back to when he was five years of age, playing on the streets of Tallaght and copying the skills of his idol, Cristiano Ronaldo. He reflected on those times back in Dublin: “I remember it was just me and my friends and a ball. I’d go and search Cristiano Ronaldo skills and tricks online and go and practice them out on the road.

“I loved football and my dad’s friend’s son had just joined Shamrock Rovers and he told my dad to bring me up to play. I joined when I was around six years old and stayed with them right up until last year.”

Between playing for Shamrock Rovers and learning the ‘Ronaldo chop’ there were times Naj would visit family in his dad’s native Algeria and test his skills overseas.

He described those summers overseas: “Those days were amazing, going to Algeria and playing against my cousins and their friends from 10 in the morning to six o’clock at night. It would just be us, a ball, the street, someone would put shoes down as goal posts. It was a great environment to try tricks and skills that I’d learned back home.”

Slowly the playmaking midfielder’s talents saw him stand out for both club and country. Missing out on a season of international football due to Covid-19, he would finally make his debut for Ireland Under-16s against Malta in 2021 and he scored his first international goal in a 3-2 defeat against Serbia six months later.

But it’s no surprise what Naj’s highlight in an Ireland shirt has been so far. “Definitely the Under-17s EUROs,” said Naj.  “The experience of scoring, then reaching the quarter finals was so good, it’s so difficult to explain. We did so well, then we played a class team in Spain. They had Lamine Yamal playing, who is probably the best winger in the world right now, and they had Marc Guiu, who scored a hat-trick against Rovers in the Conference League. They’re my age and achieving so much and it gives you the drive to go on.”

That drive to reach another EUROs is what inspired Naj and his Ireland Under-19s side back in November. The young Boys in Green topped their group thanks to a winner from the Tallaght teen in a 2-1 victory against Iceland. It set-up an Elite Phase group of Germany, Finland, Slovenia with the group winner heading to the 2025 Under-19s EUROs in Romania.

Explaining his desire to reach another Finals, Naj said: “There are a lot players from that group who were with the Under-17s at the EUROs in Hungary and we all want to be back. It’s where you want to be at this age group and we saw how much the country got behind us a couple of years ago. We want to be there again.”

Should the tricky playmaker help lead the Under-19s to a European Championship it would be another chapter in his early rise in the professional game.

While dreaming of that Serie A debut, Naj cites his introduction into full-time football by his coaches at Shamrock Rovers and advice from teammates as the reason he’s determined to achieve his dream.

He said: “My coaches were always telling me, ‘you have a gift, you can be one of the best players but you have to work hard for it’. But I thought they were saying that to just make me feel better, then I signed my first professional contract and that’s when I knew I could make a career from football. Stephen Bradley would watch my games and a couple of occasions he’d pull me aside and say keep doing what you’re doing.

“When I made my debut against Dundalk in the FAI Cup, the advice he gave me then was same as when I was as an Under-17s player, he said ‘just play your game’. To be around him and that Rovers team that had won so much, I learned a lot. It was always one-game at a time, don’t get too ahead of yourself, one game at time. So I’ve brought that mentality to Como.”

The game-by-game approach earned him a place with the Shamrock Rovers squad as they made it four-in-a-row in 2023. Months after lifting the Premier Division title he was heading to northern Italy, but Naj admits London could easily have been his new home until World Cup winner Fabregas intervened.

Naj said: “I remember I was due to go on trial with Arsenal and Chelsea and so I wasn’t expecting anything other than going there. But I got a call from my agent saying that Como wanted to sign me and Cesc Fabregas wanted to talk to me. I couldn’t believe it. We had a video call with him and he told us about the Como project and as soon as we chatted I knew that’s where I wanted to be. He was a world-class midfielder, to play for him and learn from him is something that is only going to make me get better and better and it’s what I’m determined to do.”

In every corner of the world there seems to be a pocket of Irish and Como is no different. Former UCD and Under-21s international Liam Kerrigan is a goalscorer for the club and was part of the squad that got promoted from Serie B before taking up a loan move to Beveren in Belgium. More recently former Ireland and Shelbourne league and cup winner Megan Smyth-Lynch joined Como’s senior women’s team while her coach is former Ireland Women’s Under-17s and Under-19s coach Dave Bell.

Bell had previously been Como’s Academy Manager and he helped Naj settle into life in Italy, Naj said: “I’ve only ever known Shamrock Rovers and Ireland so to move to a new country, to a new club and being away from your family, it’s difficult. Dave was very helpful in helping me settle and we are very close, I’d go back home and we’d talk, so it’s good I have someone looking out for me early on.

“But I’ve been here nearly a year now and being involved on Tuesday gives you a lot of confidence. Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that someone like Cesc Fabregas is watching you, it gives you a lot of confidence.”