Norway star Muhammed Keita makes ‘come and get me plea’ to Gambia Monday, November 24, 2014 Norway youth international Muhammed Keita has made a ‘come and get me’ plea to the Gambia’s football authorities after hinting that he could change his allegiance by representing the Scorpions at senior team level. The 24-year-old winger who can also play as a striker is currently in the books of Polish top flight side Lech Poznan, and speaking in an online interview with a Poznan, the former Stromsgodset star said even though his natural choice is Norway, he is still facing sleepless nights as to where his international future lies. According to him, he still doesn’t know which of the two countries he will represent but he hinted that he could play for the Scorpions provided that he receive a proposal from the Gambia’s football authorities. Even though he has represented Norway at every youth category up to U-23 level, Keita is still eligible to represent The Gambia at senior team level as a result of a FIFA rule that allows a player to change allegiance to another country as long as he hasn’t featured at a competitive senior level. Keita said in the interview with sport.poznan.pl: “I wonder [about my international future] all the time. Besides, I did not get even a proposal [to change allegiance to Gambia]. I am associated with both countries,” Keita added. Keita is a teammate of defender Kebba Ceesay at Poznan but unlike the latter, the striker has not played any form of football in The Gambia whereas Ceesay represented the Scorpions at international level despite the fact that he grew up in Sweden, and played for them at youth level. “My first and natural choice is Norway,” Muhamed Keita added. “This is the country where I grew up and learned a lot, and to whom I owe a lot. [But] the case [as to who I will represent] remains open.” When contacted by the Daily Observer, Ebou Faye the second vice president of the newly installed Gambia Football Federation executive in his reaction to Keita’s recent comments said they will be very interested in contacting the youngster in an effort to convince him to commit his future to the Scorpions. Faye who also played as an international for The Gambia added that the Federation is interested in establishing contacts with any Gambian currently playing outside, noting that the country is not blessed with a lot of strikers. “We would like to have him play for The Gambia and the fact that we don’t have many strikers these days we will be very much interested in having Keita within our ranks,” he further told the Daily Observer. About Keita Keita was born on September 2, 1990 in the Gambian capital Banjul but moved to Norway at age 6 when his family settled in Drammen. At 16, he joined local club Stromsgodset and. He graduated from the youth category and made his debut against Tijan Jaiteh’s former club Brann Bergen in the 2008 season. He followed this up with some notable performances and scored a hat-trick after coming off the bench against Pors Grenland in the Norwegian Cup, and was impressive against Viking in the final match of that season. Keitas progress caught the eye of Parma, and attended trials with the Italian club in January 2009. However, he remained in Drammen for the next four years and became a Norwegian champion with Stromsgodset in 2013 where he made 19 league appearances and scored 3 goals, making 4 assists. In the 2014 season, before joining Poznan in June of this year, he had already appeared in 6 games where he accumulated 307 minutes. “We have been observing Muhamed since the beginning of 2013. In each transfer window [since], we looked at the possibility of him coming, and Im glad I finally reached an agreement with the Norwegian club. Keita has an impressive speed and dribbling skill and these advantages are very important. Surely he must still work on efficiency [in front of goal], but we believe that he will make progress in that aspect in Poznan,” Lech Poznan’s Vice President Piotr Rutkowski told Tylkoekstraklasa while announcing his arrival in the summer. Keita is a great talent and has a ferocious right foot, but most often plays on the left side of the attack where he cuts inside to his stronger foot. However, he can equally play on the opposite flank and behind the back of an advanced striker. Keita comes from a family in which there is no shortage of footballing talent. His 16-year-old brother Saidou Keita currently plays in the youth category of local club FK Drammen and he will be hoping to follow the footsteps of Muhammed. Author: Baboucarr Camara
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 17:01:47 +0000
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