A footballer’s life is actually a collection of journeys. Despite his young age,Enea Mihaj has already travelled a lot. Born in Albania on 5 July 1998, he lived for a while in Thessaloniki. He then moved to Rhodes, where he made his first steps in football before settling in Agrinio.

Panetolikos spotted him when he was playing for Diagoras Academy. He was invited for a try-out and the Agrinio club didn’t hesitate at all to offer him a deal. Mihaj’s family had no second thoughts either and encouraged Enea to go after his dreams.

His appearances for Panetolikos’s youth sides caught the interest of the senior team’s coaching staff. They called him in their trainings and gradually prepared him for men’s football.

After being included a few times in the senior squad, he made his debut on 11 January 2017. PAOK was the rival that day. Mihaj came from the bench as substitute, in the dying minutes of the Greek Cup tie.

He didn’t get another opportunity in 2016-17, but in the following season he became a regular and never looked back. He played in 29 matches, many of his performances were simply excellent and he stood out as one of the most promising central defenders of the Greek Super League.

He was unfortunate to miss much of 2018-19 season due to a serious injury –but even so, he got to feature in 19 league and Greek Cup encounters.

Meanwhile, Mihaj had played twice for Albania U21 national team and once for his country’s U19 team, before getting his first call for the senior side in fall 2018. He made his full international debut against Scotland for the UEFA Nations League.

He was courted by several foreign clubs, but PAOK were the one to secure his signature.