Theo Corbeanu is like many Canadians.
The 19-year-old is the son of immigrants — part of a Romanian family who put down roots in Hamilton, Ont., at the turn of the century. Like many others, he grew up speaking his parents' language as well as English.
Where Corbeanu differs from most is with his prodigious soccer ability. The youngster showed a soaring talent for the game early on. After spending his formative years in the Southern Ontario youth soccer circuit, he headed to England, where he eventually had a successful trial with Premier League side Wolverhampton Wanderers.
"It was an amazing moment because I'd gone on trials when I was younger to different teams around Europe, but it never it never really came off, so when I came to Wolves, and I found out that they wanted to sign me, it was an unbelievable feeling," Corbeanu told DAZN. "Me and my family, obviously, we knew that all those years of work paid off, but understood that that was just the beginning and there's a lot of work to be done."
Indeed, the lanky winger still had much to do, but after standing out in Wolves' U-18 and U-23 sides, Corbeanu found himself on the periphery of the first team this past season. After watching seven Premier League matches from the bench, Corbeanu's number was called by former Wolves manager Nuno Espirito Santo for an eight-minute cameo against Tottenham Hotspur on May 16.
But even before he stepped into a Premier League game, Corbeanu had already made his debut for the full Canadian national team — and scored.
"It was amazing. It was a good debut," he said of his maiden Canada game, a 5-1 World Cup qualifying win over Bermuda in March. "From the few minutes that I was out there, I thought I did really well. My first touch was my first goal, so I'll never forget that. I was really happy with the debut, but obviously, now I'm looking to build on that and just get better game by game."
Corbeanu represented Romania at the youth level before switching to Canada this year. He says it was all part of the plan, and wearing both shirts felt natural to him.
"Until the age of four, I only spoke Romanian," Corbeanu said. "That was the only language I knew. It was the only language that was spoken around the house. My parents immigrated from Romania in 1999, so I'm the only Canadian in the whole family tree. So I thought that it was the right decision to represent the country in which I'm born and raised, and [I] played all my youth football there, too, so I thought it would make sense to represent Canada, and I'm glad I made that decision."
Now a part of John Herdman's Canada squad currently trying to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, Corbeanu is a teammate of another high-profile immigrant: Alphonso Davies. Corbeanu hopes to emulate the 20-year-old Bayern Munich star, both at the club level and in Canada colours.
"We all look up to him as a role model, especially as youngsters, because we know what he's been through — obviously being a refugee and then coming to Canada to come for a better life and to do what he's done, to achieve what he's achieved, is amazing and he's a massive inspiration to all of us," Corbeanu said. "Also, going into the Bayern second team, he started off with them. It's very interesting because I'm kind of in the same boat right now with the Wolves [U]23s playing, and to see his evolution is massive, and it shows that us Canadians can do it, too. We can make a difference on the European stage."
Watch the full interview with Theo Corbeanu above, or on DAZN Canada's YouTube channel.