The latest player that we interviewed was attacker Agim Ibraimi who has scored 6 goals for the Macedonian national team over the past year-and-a-half.

Agim Ibraimi was born in the city of Tetovo in August of 1988.  Ibraimi began his career with local club Shkendija, but he made his name in Slovenia where he has played for the two biggest clubs in Olimpija and Maribor, a club that still holds his rights as he is currently on loan from there to Cagliari.

In between Olimpija and Maribor, Agim had brief stints in Turkey with Eskişehirspor and another Slovenian club in Nafta.  Since Ibraimi had a falling out with Olimpija near the end of his time there, he didn’t think twice about joining their heated rival Maribor in the summer of 2011.  Agim excelled at Maribor which eventually led to his loan move to Serie A side Cagliari last summer.  The move to Italy was completed just before the end of the 2013 summer transfer window.

Ibraimi has accumulated 14 league appearances for Cagliari this season, his lone goal coming earlier this month in a 3:0 victory over Udinese.  Most of Agim’s appearances, however, have come off the bench as he has played just over 300 minutes in his 14 combined league caps for Cagliari.

Concerning his national team career, Agim made his debut for the senior national team of Macedonia back in August of 2009 when he came off the bench to replace Goran Pandev in the friendly against Spain in Skopje.  It took just over three years for Ibraimi to score his first goal for Macedonia which came in a 2014 World Cup qualifier against Croatia in October of 2012.  Ibraimi had a hot streak at that time as he also scored one goal apiece in the next three games as well, first against Serbia (2014 World Cup qualifier), than against Slovenia (friendly) and finally against Denmark (friendly).  Besides those four goals, Ibraimi added two more to his tally against Bulgaria in August of 2013 and also in Macedonia’s most recent match against Latvia earlier this month.

Now, with the retirement of Goran Pandev and the likely retirement of Nikolche Noveski from the national team, Ibraimi will be asked to become one of the new leaders by manager Boshko Gjurovski.  So, we recently caught up with Agim to ask him some questions concerning Cagliari and the Macedonian national team.

Below is our question and answer session with Agim Ibraimi:

MF: Agim, how was the feeling of scoring your first Serie A goal recently? Also, has Italian football been harder or about what you expected?
AI: For me personally, every goal gives me unforgettable feelings because when I start to play, the main aim and goal is victory for the team I play for.  I try to concentrate 100%. The same thing happened in Serie A, where I was, of course, happier because it was my first goal for my new team.  I found myself doing what I really should, because I was given the chance to do it.  Finally, every scored goal and victory gives me good feelings, because it is a positive action, it is motivation for the future.   As far as the second question is concerned, the Italian league seems to be hard, but it is not, you just need time to play and then everything is simple and easy!

MF: Your loan with Cagliari is until the summer. Do you see yourself staying there beyond that, or could you envision heading back to Maribor?
AI: Yes, it is true, I’m on loan until this summer and also have a contract with NK Maribor until next summer, but for this I can’t say much because it doesn’t only depend on me.  So, we will see next month what the decision will be, because in football things can change in the last minute.

MF: You were a key player for the U21 national team and now the senior NT. What is your best memory of playing for Macedonia, whether “A” NT or youth NT?
AI: Key player!  It is nice to hear that when the media and fans say it. It is an honor to be called that and I am thankful to all.  But, at the same time, it is difficult because it gives me added responsibilities to work more and more in order to make all the fans happy.  However, this depends a lot from your teammates because football is a team game, and everyone should be together with one aim and that is victory and victory means giving happiness to fans, friends, family.  Concerning memories, every game is a memory, but I would never forget the first debut against Spain and of course the first goal against Croatia.

MF: What do you see as your best position? Which one do you like more: winger or trequartista? Also, how do you replace Pandev on the NT?
AI: Everything depends on the game situation.  I can play both, but I would like to be more on the right wing.  So, I can’t say who will replace Pandev because every player tries to give their best when given a chance to create a position within the team.  Then, someone else comes along to play, but doesn’t replace the previous player, instead he just continues the good job that the previous one had done.  Pandev was our best player who won everything with his ex club Inter.  I can say it was good to have a teammate like him who is a very positive guy on and off the field, so now it will be harder for us without him.

MF: How is the relationship between the Macedonian and ethnic Albanian players on the national team? Is everyone treated with respect in your opinion?
AI: The relationship is ok, we never speak about politics or other stuff like that, we are professionals.  We play together, we are friends and we don’t care about other things.  We want to be a good collective group and to give our best to win games and to be happy.  But, if there are things like that, than that player does not deserve the national team.  Yes, everyone is treated with respect by everyone.

MF: What are your first impressions of new manager Boshko Gjurovski, and how do you feel about Macedonia’s group for EURO 2016 qualifying?
AI: Even though we were together for only 3 days, I can say that the first impressions of the new coach are very positive.  He is a really good motivator which is very important.  I wish him the best of luck and I hope that all of us together can make history.  We know that our group is a hard one, but we have to do our best.  Take Croatia and Bosnia as examples because from my point of view they function perfectly.