Ebrima Colley: The Rise of The Gambia's future star

Ebrima Colley has left a good early impression on Gambia fans in his cameo roles so far

By: Omar Jatta

Since bursting onto the Italian football scene with Atalanta B.C's U-19 side in 2017, Ebrima Colley has rapidly become one of the hottest prospects in Gambian football.

In the short space of time that he has been with the Serie A side, the 20-year-old midfielder has gained huge strides in his development as a professional footballer, denoting some great qualities in both his physicality and the technical prowess that has thus far made him a standout player in the club's B ranks, where he has consecutively displayed his prolific nous, scoring 13 times in 22 games in the 2018/19 season. And he followed that feat with another goal marathon this season, scoring two more than his previous season tally despite missing some Primavera games due to senior team duties. He has scored 16 goals so far this season in the Primavera1 U-19 Division, and he currently sits second in the goal scoring charts, 2 goals behind Inter Milan teenager Samuele Mulattieri.

It's worth noting, the young Gambian midfielder was the top scorer in the Division for most part of the season, but since the turn of year, he has been attached more to the senior side, having made his senior debut on December 15th, 2019 in the 2-1 loss against Bologna, and he has subsequently been on the bench in four other games for Gian Piero Gasperini's side, including their last game before the Covid-19 lockdown against Lecce. His last appearance for the U-19 side was in the 2-2 draw against Sampdoria U-19 side, where he came off the bench to give his side the lead in the 64th minute.

With his eye catching performances in the U-19 Division, the young midfielder caught the eyes of the Gambia's Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet, who seem to have huge admirations for the Tallinding-born star, whom he did not hesitate to throw into his team's fray after handing him his first call up in the in November 2018 for the 2019 African Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin, where remained on the bench and did not take part in the game.

However, he was handed his international berth couple of months later, when he became the first ever Atalanta U-19 player to make his full international debut for his national side after coming on in the 81st minute to replace Ebrima Sohna in 1-1 draw against the Dessert Foxes of Algeria in March 2019.

And subsequently he was called to the Scorpions side on six other occasions since that game in Algeria, bringing his total caps to 7 so far despite being in the Atalanta U-19 side prior to all those call-ups, which shows how highly he was held by Saintfeit.
He was a second half sub in the first -leg of the Scorpion's failed World Cup qualifier against Angola in September 2019, where he came on in the 46th minute to replace Buba Sanneh in the 1-0 home defeat, and was again in the team in the return leg in Luanda, where he played for the full 90 minutes, although the Gambia lost that game 2-1 and were knocked out of the qualifiers with a 3-1 aggregate score in favour of the Angolans.

The 20-year-old then featured in four other competitive international games against Djibouti, Angola and DR Congo, the last of which was the 2-2 home draw in the African Cup of Nations qualifier against DR Congo at the Independence Stadium last November, where he came on to replace Sulayman Marreh in the 80th minute. The midfielder was also sub-listed in the 35-man squad released by Tom Saintfeit for the postponed AFCON 2021 double legged qualifiers against Gabon.

Colley Joined Atalanta following a tip off from Luigi Sorrentino, a lawyer and football agent specialising in finding young talents, who has also made a reputation for frequently identifying young African talents in the Balkan area and he is also understood to be Musa Barrow's lawyer. He contacted Atalanta's head of youth development Maurizio Constanzi about the young Gambian prospect, and after few trials Colley was taken on board and has since shown a steady progression in his career development, which had alerted several Italian clubs including the two Milan giants A.C and Inter Milan, who both tried to lure him on but Atalanta did all they could rebuff their overtures by handing the young midfielder a lengthy contract, tying him down till 2023.

In an interview with the club's website, the Gambian international recounted his first steps in football while growing up in his native Serekunda Suburb of Tallinding, his family and his aspirations as a footballer.

“I started playing football when I was five years old with my friends, he told the club website.

" I grew up in Tallinding, a village about twenty minutes from the Gambian capital, Banjul.

"I've always had a passion for football. And my mum helped me a lot in pursuing this passion, although my dad wanted me to study, but now he's happy too.

"There were six of us in our family and my older brother, Ansu, was also playing. He is now 23 and working, but he also played football in Gambia.

"They have not yet managed to visit me in Italy, but I hope that one day they will. And fortunately, there is a way to stay in touch with them, we mostly speak via whatsapp at least twice a day."

Like most youngsters, with ambitions for making it in football, you draw inspiration on some high profile professional footballers, which is especially common in the Gambia, where many young hopefuls will often adopt the names of high profile foreign International footballers like former Spanish striker Fernando Torres, whose name has now been added to the names of one of the country's top strikers, Assan Cessay, who is also referred to as Torres. Others include Bubacarr Trawally or Steve Trawally, who has adopted the name of former England winger Steve Mc Mannaman.

However in Ebrima's case, he had Brazilian midfield forward, Kaka as his role model, who had influenced his own style of play as a 'mezzala', a forward thinking midfielder. The 'mezzala' role is a new football phenomenon mostly deployed by Italian teams, where the role may vary from coach to coach, but some believe it is the same role as a box-to-box midfielder with special duties, while others argue the role requires the player to overlap with the wingers, thereby interchanging roles as he drifts in and out on the pitch, and he must also have certain passing geometries etc. Kaka was a player who utilised this role to great effect at AC Milan.

“I liked Kaka a lot for how he carried the ball, how he moved and how he ran, Colley told the interview with his club Website.

"I remember watching his videos on youtube often. I am a player who enjoys dribbling, but who also loves to score.

"In Atalanta, it is no coincidence that I really like Papu Gomez, I like to observe how he plays."

Like Kaka, Colley also possesses great ball controlling ability and moves well with the ball at his and this combined with his versatility has allowed him to adapt to different attacking roles and he recounted his first conversation with his youth team coach Massimo Brambilla, who told him he has the qualities to play anywhere in attack.

“I arrived at Atalanta as a winger. However, Mr Brambilla immediately told me that in the field according to him I could do everything, even the mezzala.

"At the first friendly game he lined me up as a midfielder and I scored three goals and I realized he was right, I could play like that too.

"Now I play as a midfielder, or as a midfielder just behind the striker.

In his scouting profile Colley has been described as a very versatile player, powerful and difficult to stop especially in one-on-one situations. A tactically agile player, who seems to give his best when he starts from the midfield but also acting as an offensive wing forward.

See his attribute report below:

Ebrima Colley is a player who is difficult to identify in one role, because his versatility is one of his main strengths.

He certainly favours the offensive phase and when he starts from the left midfielder position (where he plays more frequently) or left wing, he has the possibility to quickly concentrate and position himself to shoot with his strong foot, the right one.

He is powerful, difficult to stop when he has the ball to his foot in progression, and he has remarkable shooting abilities , which allow him to be dangerous from the medium-long range distance.

He is excellent in one-on-one situations, especially in the open field, he also has a fair vision of the game, although he can further improve on his final choices.

He is physically strong and protects the ball well, and he has good aerial ability and above all has extraordinary offensive insertion times.

He has an exuberant, lively, sparkling and quality style of play, which allows his team's to maneuverer unpredictably .

He is still a somewhat instinctive player who needs to be disciplined more tactically, as he can improve in the defensive phase.

He has a strong personality, and he is a player who plays on the field with good ease and light-heartedness.

He is tactically ductile, and seems to give his best when he starts from midfield acting as a midfielder, but also as an offensive outsider.