French Football Agent Collingnon Advises Talented Young African Players Not To Start Foreign Careers With Big European Clubs News

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French Football Agent Collingnon Advises Talented Young African Players Not To Start Foreign Careers With Big European Clubs

By Daily Sports on April 23, 2020

A top French football agent Benard Collingnon has advised young players from African to opt against starting their careers with top European clubs, describing it as a wrong path from which the player's career may never recover from.

Many youngsters from Africa pine to play for the Chelseas and Real Madrids of world club football today and good performances in international youth competitions like the FIFA Under-17 World Cup puts a number of kids in the radar of these big clubs who then hanker after the signatures of these players. But Collignon cautions against youngsters jumping on the trains of these big sides when kick starting their European club careers.

Speaking in an Instagram interview with Nigerian Europe-based journalist Oma Akatugba, Collingnon said as an agent “I would have never brought them to a big club because countries in South America and North Africa can afford this but I’m sorry black African countries cannot afford a young player to arrive in a big team. It’s bound to fail, it’s not about talent, even the talented ones.

“Take Kelechi Nwakali who is struggling in Huesca in Spain for example. If I were his agent, I’d have brought him to an average team in Europe, he’d have had the time and window to show his talent, from there he has time to bill his fitness games.”

He explained further by showing examples of superstars, the path they took and the challenges.

Using the European career trajectory of Cameroon football star Samuel Eto’o, who went to Real Madrid at the start of his Europe sojourn where was loaned out to Leganes as an illustration, Collignon pointed out that though Eto’o scored only three goals at Leganes out of 28 appearances then, he gained quality experience from having the opportunity of playing a large number of games.

“The most important thing then (for Eto’o) was not to score but to play every weekend and build his fitness games. He returned to Madrid and didn’t play because he wasn’t ready. He went out on loan to Espanyol but didn’t play any game, he returned to Madrid and struggled again, he then went on loan to Mallorca, he struggled in the first season but in the second season he started doing it and the rest is history,” Collingnon explained.

He further argues that European top sides “have too much money to buy players who are ready because they wanna win the league or something.”

Collingnon informs that he prefers to bring a young player to an average team where he would have time to work, to improve himself without too much pressure and build his fitness after which, in two to three years, he would become a mire finished article.

The agent manages the career of Everton player Jan Phillipe Gbamin and shares how the youngster grew in stature to get to where he is now:

“He was at the academy in Lens and played games with French youth national teams. When he was 17 we had the opportunity of signing for Newcastle United but we didn’t because it wasn’t a good move for a 17year old. At the same time, Olivier Kemen signed for Newcastle, he’s now at Niort in the second division in France, I think if he did the contrary and started in Niort, maybe he’d have been in Newcastle now. He lost the first two years in Newcastle not playing. People have to understand that when you’re 18 is the time to play, play every weekend. Jean Phillipe Gbamin today plays for Everton, while Kemen is not heard of anymore.”

Adding, Collingnon said: “There’s something we call “maturité footballistic” in French which I could translate as football maturity in English. Normally for a white player, the football maturity is 28years. For a black player because black people have different genes which is true is 30years. That is the peak when you play the best football ever, from there you’re gonna go down. If you don’t play regularly at 18, 19, 20, you’re not gonna reach your football maturity at 28years old. This is why all these kids who go to all these big teams, they’re not ready and have to learn.

“Look at Kylian Mbappe, for example, he made a very good choice in going to Monaco. If he went straight to Madrid at 14 years old, he’d never be where he is now.”

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 23, 2020