Though there are African players who have proven their worth, skills, talent and competence in Europe’s big leagues and it’s mighty clubs but how many are they, compared to the amount shipped into Europe every year, especially the younger African players.
Really Africans are doing great in the world of football and in recent times, a lot of them have caught attention in the global market which made them impossible to ignore.
Bernard Collignon a European based player manager, in an interview with Oma Akatugba highlighted why many young Africans struggle to do well for the big clubs. The France based player agent said that young African players don’t do well not because they are not talented enough but they are not just ready for big challenges yet and wouldn’t want to get a loan move to pick up form.
According to the words of Collignon “if I was their agent, I would have not brought them to big clubs. South American players can afford growing in a big club because they will be given time to prove themselves. But African young players cannot, they are bound to fail. ”
When asked what’s the best way to tackle the situation, he said “I will bring the young player to an average club in Europe so he will have the window to grow and show his talent, from there he will build his fitness game”
Collignon used former African footballer of the year Samuel Eto as a case study. When Eto arrived in Madrid, he went on loan to Legenes. Though he didn’t score much but he played every week to build his game fitness. Andre Ayew is another case study. When he arrived Marseille, he went on loan to Lorrent.
It is generally known that very few big teams have the luxury of time to invest on young players especially the ones from Africa. They have the money to spend on big players because they will want to will trophies.
