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With Southampton, Everton and Arsenal Interested -Will Omar Colley Become Latest Gambian In English Premier League?

Sampdoria will soon be raided of their star man in the department of defence. Overtures are coming in from various angles notably Europe’s top-five leagues.

The Italians will feel the pinch and at best helpless should a cash-wielding club come calling or more aptly put, meet their exorbitant valuation of the Gambia international.

Omar Colley is one of those rare diamonds who most would cast doubt on ever going far when they were in the rough. Story of his rise to the very best of footballing countries is a well documented trip.

Starting out from Wallidan under the watch of the late football guru OB Conateh before daring to cross the divide to town rivals Real de Banjul, he would begin with Finland as springboard to stardom. KuPS of the poor Finnish league had the privilege of seeing him evolve as his first club abroad after a failed attempt to join Major League Soccer’s Sporting Kansas City.

The American outfit passed on the opportunity to secure Omar’s services as a left-back -a decision they would most definitely have regrets over by now – after perceiving the US$50,000 Wallidan’s price tag for the erstwhile African U-17 champion impossible to match.

Being the sole successful player of the 2009 African youth cup winning Gambia baby Scorpions, Armenia Belefield of Germany’s second tier, will today bite its fingers in grief at having to be the Lamin-born’s would have been employers.

Mid-way into his second stint at KuPS, the Germans were passed word of how steady the then 21-year-old can be and considering he was available for a very paltry fee. Somehow, he was invited for an audition but gaffers didn’t see what the fuss was about the West African towering back-liner.

Djurgarden IF of Sweden will take gamble of snapping the left-sided ace and more appealing was the fact that his deal with KuPS had elapsed.

This set the path to what would be an interesting trajectory as Omar was on the move again after two seasons leaving Sweden for Genk of Belgium. A little stand-off marred the deal upon revelation the scorpion is the one agitating for the move – a moment of spirit-dampening for Djrugarden fans who’d warmed to him for his brave performances.

Reports had it Colley volunteered to free himself of the Stockholm outfit’s contract by buying remainder of the terms binding him and DIF who dug their heels over accepting Genk’s proposal they viewed below their valuation.

Djurgarden’s condition to sanction the deal was the player must return to Sweden, threatening to pull the plug off the advanced negotiations and report to fifa for illegal approaching of their prized possession. Omar flew over and came off the bench to play against Hacken BK to an unsurprising smattering of boos from umbraged Djurgarden supporters.

Long story short, a fee in the region of 1.7 milion euros was eventually agreed between the two clubs, paving Omar’s dream move to Genk. There again, after another two football terms going into the third, Sampdoria came clamouring. Genk had bluffed the scorpion’s Italian suitors, insisting they weren’t putting him up in the market, a stance they would soften when the Serie A outfit came with a tempting 8million euros offer.

Transfer speculation surrounding this move turned a prolong one but ,in the end, it was worth every bit of the trouble of haggling.

Here again after two campaigns, Omar is nearing a switch to one of every player’s destination choice -the English Premier league. Southampton, Everton and even Arsenal are the clubs mooted to be ardent on dragging him over to England during which he would become the third Gambian to sign in the EPL after Omar Koroma and Modou Barrow.

Proving he is EPL material is his impressive statistics as he is rated one of the league’s best defenders, ahead of even would-be Africa’s most expensive defender Senegal’s Kalidou Koulibally in the field of ball recovery.

The former Wallidan man does not seem the one to wait for more than twenty-four months for another transfer with his previous moves a revealing testament.

Back pages rate his transfer to England happening at 80 percent this season, however, that is only predicted to happen at elapse of this ongoing campaign as Sampdoria battles to escape their ever increasing flirtation with relegation.

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Gambia News is a credible site owned by a Gambian-born with an interest to tell the Gambian narrative as it's.

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