How 3 Gambian players missed out on Chelsea deal

Zico Ceesay

Soon after the 2005 Under-17 World Cup in Peru, one of the best outings any Gambian team had in major competitions, some of the most outstanding players in that tourney in fact moved very close to becoming millionaires and English Premiership stars.

Though there were strong rumours about the heights the Gambian players scaled after that tourney, it has just been disclosed in detail how close they came to hitting the jackpot.

Speaking on the sidelines of a press briefing yesterday, Omar Sey, who was the GFA president at the time, revealed that greed on the part of the players’ parents, their clubs and general lack of organisation were responsible for Ebrima Sohna, Momodou ‘Zico’ Ceesay and Ousman Jallow to miss out on fat contracts, notably with Premier League club, Chelsea.

“There were even quotations of some 400,000 pounds in one of the negotiations, but once news of the boys’ talks with the clubs spread, relatives of the players themselves started calling me demanding they talk with the clubs on behalf of the players,” Sey stated.

“Chelsea offered those three players trials which was held under (the directives) of (Jose) Mourinho and I had to travel to London with them. They were offered contracts because Mourinho wanted to sign Zico as a replacement for Didier Drogba and Ebrima Sohna as a replacement for Claude Makelele but because they were less than 18 at the time, they had offered to sign them and take them to Belgium until they turn 18 and then this rumours went out that I took players to sell in England.”

“Their parents also wanted something out of that money at that time and then Zico’s mother called me and (a relative of his) who lived in Scotland said he was taking him to Tottenham. They spoke to Tottenham (but in the end, the deal never materialised),” Sey recalled.

“Imagine at the time, Chelsea offered 300,000 pounds for the trio, they will also pay the GFA training fees while they also wanted to set up an academy here in Gambia but the club here (Wallidan) was asking more and when it failed, Chelsea said they cannot rely on us anymore. So I will blame the players for their immaturity, their parents and club for greed and the club for their improper structures,” he added.

Also according Omar Sey, the Gambian clubs of the boys too proved greedy by asking for sums and monies unreasonably high under the circumstances.

“The players were officially supposed to be Under-17, and that means they cannot straight away make a break into first team contracts.”

“The attitudes by all those named, among other things, led to the failure of those potentially lucrative deals, which would even have resulted in the establishment of a Chelsea football academy in The Gambia,” Mr Sey moaned.

By: Lamin Cham and additional reporting by this blog