We have a long history of these type of players never actually playing for us, or being loaned out all over the place before they get near the first time. I’m not sure anyone is reasonably expecting them to come in to the team immediately (from July onwards) and make any meaningful impact, but if they did it would somewhat buck the trend for most of these types of signings anyway, maybe Asprilla excluded.
I can see the chants from the terraces now... "Mamadou-do-do he's gonna score against you..." "To the left, to the right your keeper's out of sight..." "Oh Mamadou we love you!" Welcome to Watford, the Pozzo trading hub capital.
Will be even easier to deceive with CHATGPT etc. I hope we've seen this guy in the flesh and he doesn't turn up looking like Kalu....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obbi_Oularé £6m in Sept 2015-incredible waste of money-5 year contract at start-eats into the profits made on JP, Lukbakio, Dennis At least this young guy has no such upfront cost
I know the Pozzo scouting network has unearthed some gems over the years, including from Africa, but all I can think about is that Djibril Fandje Toure who was supposed to be the next big thing, but ended up looking like a fish out of water in the Austrian second tier...
Haven't unearthed any for us! The aforementioned Aly Malle and Toure are the only two I can think of that came direct to us from an African team and one is playing in the Romanian top flight and the other is at a second tier Czech team...
Aren't we also signing a Nigeria youth international who played at the U20 World Cup? Is he old enough to actually register for us?
Daniel Daga. His birthdate is Jan 10 2007 so I presume he'll be joining next January transfer window. This photo of him was taken a few weeks ago so it appears it's probably happening: https://twitter.com/WFCSean/status/1753782445709701133
Nah he's (Daniel Daga) not 18 until next January. He did post a picture of himself in a Watford shirt a couple of months ago though which means we hopefully have a deal in place to go through when he's 18.
Yes, he's definitely old enough. I found this picture of him in next season's away shirt which shows his deep links to the club already:
Yes he's definitely old enough and definitely signing for us. Here's a pic of him posing with the shirt outside the stadium after having been wheeled from his care home to sign the contract:
I know - posted it before breakfast. I really shouldn't post anything until after my second coffee of the day.
https://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/s...ican-striker-signs-six-year-contract-watford/ Only disappointment is we've only tied him down to a 6 year contract. Whatever happened to thinking ahead?
Great. Cant wait for us to stall his training and devlopment. For him to get disheartened over a couple of seasons before we sell him on to Brighton for less than we paid where he sets the Prem alight
If he's training I'd presume that means he's got a work permit? Bit surprising but just seen he actually came off the bench for the Mali NT in the last international break which might have nabbed it for him potentially. Especially since I didn't think we had any ESC slots this season.
Skinny and beanpole then. Not an ounce of fat on him. Nothing at all inside that 28AAA Maidenform training bra. Deeney had a B cup.
Just to be able to dream that we could have a guy who has made a sub appearance for Mali as part of our first team squad next year.....just WOW !
I know this is a joke, but the Mali NT isn't that bad, especially since he only turned 18 2 months ago! In their last squad they had players playing in: 3 for RB Salzburg (+1 for RB Leipzig), 2 playing in Serie A, 2 playing in La Liga, 4 playing in Ligue 1, 5 playing in Ligue 2, 1 playing for Braga, 2 playing in the top tier in Switzerland. Been trying to find out if he's been playing in Mali this season but info is pretty hard to find.. That being said, I'd be v surprised if he was in our first team next season. Imagine a loan is the most likely option.
Fair enough ! I'd assumed they aren't exactly an African giant and, yes I appreciate that he's one for the future.
Just noticed he's already made his senior international debut for Mali, I guess that'll help with getting a work permit. Not seen him play, but it would strike me as a mighty step up between the Malian league and the Championship...
Of course, they are no joke, they almost made the World Cup out which is quite difficult even for the biggest teams in Africa, but I wonder if this was either as a result of bigger name players pulling out or arranged to facilitate him getting a work permit
Think it was more of an experimental team, there were a couple of 17 year olds called up with him (although our lad was the only one to play) and there were a fair few players missing from their squad, noticeable that all the players in their squad playing for English teams (Bissouma, Doucoure @ Palace, the Traores @ Wolves + Hull) were all missing, as were the few players playing in the Bundesliga
If he's good enough to play in a squad like that surely he's good enough to play Championship football. Mali is very similar to Burnley away in November on a Tuesday night so he should fit in well
Welcome to him, hope he does well but the tag of "will never play for us" seems to be pretty apparent when we get a new signing in. It's such a shame this never happened tomorrow, then we could finally say that something happened on a Thursday. Good luck Mamadou, I hope you get the grace the Vic's green carpet next season and not be dumped out on loan for two seasons.
You're not kidding. Record low temperature is 14.08 deg C (57.34 deg F) so, much like Burnley in November. Source: https://weatherandclimate.com/mali
Spoke to a guy I know who's a work permit expert. Apparently every PL/Champ club gets 4 ESC slots this season so imagine we've used one on both him and Hurtado. We get 0 spots next season though apparently
