By Lamin Drammeh
Gambian international footballer Lamin Jallow, has denied speculation that he was a Bakau United player when he became professional soccer player.
There has been widespread rumor linking the former Ron Mango prodigy to Bakau United, a first division football club based in Bakau and competes in the Gambia Football Federation division one league.
Officials from the two clubs has had heated confrontations in the past over the player’s transfer saga and until now, Bakau United remains adamant that the player was their property when Real de Banjul sold him to the Italian giants Chievo Verona, for an undisclosed fee.
The highly rated versatile winger who also plays as a striker has moved to distance himself from any involvement with Bakau United, prior to signing a professional contract.
“It is surprising that Bakau United is claiming ownership of the contract because they sold me to Real de Banjul, before I sign for Chievo. I was not a Bakau United player when I signed a contact to play in Europe. It is completely false”.
He added that his contract with Bakau United expires the day they sold him to Real de Banjul. It was not a loan deal, the deal was permanent, he said.
“I was a Real de Banjul player when I move to Europe. There was mutual agreement between the two clubs (Real de Banjul & Bakau United), regarding the deal and I went on trial with Chievo Verona after being sold by the club (Real de Banjul),” says Jallow, who netted a brace in Trapani recent victory over their Serie B, counterpart following an action packed encounter, much to the delight of the cheering fans.
He is currently on loan from Cittadella, another Serie B team in Italy where he netted seven times in 25 league matches during the 2015/16 league seasons.
The two clubs (Cittadella & Trapani), reportedly reached an agreement for the service of the pacy forward and a loan deal was confirmed by Chievo Verona, who still maintained ownership over the player after signing him from Real de Banjul in 2014.
The Bakau New Town native, Jallow, also known as Beck, was sent on trial to Chievo Verona, midway through the 2014 GFF league season by the Banjul club, arguably the finest team in GFF top tier league today.
While on trial at the club, the young wonderkid Jallow, successfully took part in eight test matches, and has since managed to impress Serie A club officials, scoring four goals out of eight games in the process.
The Italian powerhouse wasted no time in holding onto the former Real de Banjul wonderkid, who signed a 3-year professional contact, making him only the second Gambian footballer to wear the Chievo Verona shirt after Ali Sowe. The duo remain only the two Gambian footballers to have ever play in Serie A.
SENIOR TEAM APPEARABCES
Jallow had his first test of national team football for Gambia’s scorpions, last year, in a 0-0 draw at home to Zambia at the Independence Stadium in Bakau, and was impressive under head coach Sang Ndong.
He played the entire game in a pulsating friendly encounter that saw Scorpions squandered series of scoring opportunities.
The industrious young lad was rewarded with two more senior team appearances after brilliant performance from the previous debut against Zambia, with games against South Africa and Cameroon.
He has three national caps under his belt to date and looks to add two more caps to his name when Gambia takes on Morocco and Central Africa republic in friendly encounters scheduled for March 23 & 27, respectively.
The friendly games are part of preparatory programs ahead of the preliminary rounds of the continental football qualifiers as the scorpions continues their search for African nations and world cups debut.
Meanwhile, we are reliably informed that coach Sang Ndong, accompanied by Ebou Faye, vice president of the Gambia Football Federation are currently touring Europe in an attempt to identify potential foreign based Gambian footballers for the national team.
