Juma Bah is LaLiga's great unknown
The 18-year-old defender has had little exposure to professional football, yet already looks to have captured the attention of clubs across Europe.
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Central defenders are, in comparison with most other positions, pretty challenging to find and accurately assess. Particularly in the data age, you can’t rely on the numbers to guide the first few steps as much as you can when looking for, say, a creative midfielder or a wing back. It’s a process that requires a whole lot of perception.
Where we can all see the physical titans who dominate in the penalty area, batting away crosses and ragdolling strikers in the ultimate shows of resistance, it’s misplaced to expect the great defenders to hit you in the face via those scenarios alone — especially in the modern game. Elite defenders on elite teams have to play with an increasing acuity, even if they are built from stone.
Logically, the more subtle traits that surround bullyball inevitably take a while to discern. And it’s especially the case for central defenders, who tend to peak closer to their 30s and are often guided into those prime years by fundamentals acquired through experience. There’s a reason why attacking players get more opportunities than centre backs in their teen years.
Consider, then, the case of Juma Bah. The Real Valladolid defender was born in 2006, has started 10 professional matches in Europe, and hadn’t played outside of Sierra Leone until September of last year. On top of that, his team are in the relegation zone and the defence he’s part of has the worst such record in LaLiga.
Everything says Bah should be an enigma to assess with any clarity. Nevertheless, it already looks like a raft of European clubs are preparing to act upon their spiking curiosity.
From Sierra Leone to the big leagues
Before touching on anything remotely related to performance, it’s worth recalling Bah’s backstory.
The 18-year-old has gone from playing in the streets of Sierra Leone to the big stage of LaLiga in remarkably quick time. Indeed, when Bah was initially spotted and invited to play in an organised format in his home country, he recalled the experience as “stressful”, owing to the fact that he didn’t then own a pair of football boots.
Then one day, Pachu Martínez – the scouting coordinator at Real Valladolid – went to see him play in Freetown. The ex-player is currently leading a long-term project for the club in scouting across Africa, and had received a tip from the player’s agent, Patrick Mork, about a young defender that could be of interest.
Pachu, inevitably, liked what he saw.
Bah soon arrived in Spain and began with his new club’s juvenil side. In the confirmation of his signing, Valladolid stated that he would spend the season on loan playing for the under-19s. That announcement was on August 26, but he would play for the B team, train with the first team, and then make his professional debut against Real Sociedad, all by September 21.
The 18-year-old may have admitted to nearly having a heart attack upon being named in a LaLiga starting XI, but once there, any sign of game-influencing nerves has been hard to detect. Quite simply, Bah has looked collected on the pitch – and given his age and where he’s come from, having been launched into a radically new world, that counts for plenty early on.
Listed at roughly 6-foot-4 inches tall, Bah cuts a solid immediate impression. It’s not until you see how he moves, however, that that impression starts to change beyond that of a default, well-sized centre back. Though Bah has played most of his minutes in a two this season, there’s plenty of early evidence to suggest he’s a player who’ll be eligible for the outside of a three in the future, owing to that combination of size and relative athleticism.
Of course, it doesn’t take a particularly keen eye to identify Big and Fast, nor does it tell you much about a defender in isolation. It will always spike one’s intrigue though, and put a much better spin on whatever else is later uncovered.
Taken in consideration of where modern football is at, too, it’s hard not to be immediately gripped by the teenager. Big-bodied defenders like Bah, who have the agility to move on the outside and in the channels, are becoming increasingly valuable resources in the game. And besides, even if you’re not looking for a behemoth who can run on the outside of your back three, having an orthodox central defender who can is no less valuable.
Here he is extinguishing a transition opportunity for Getafe, showing his agility against Carles Pérez (one of the quicker wingers in LaLiga), along with plenty of strength in the process:
Bah has shown nice flashes of speed and strength within smart defensive decisions too. The clip below is from the Betis victory last time out, up against another of the quickest wide players in Spain, Ez Abde.
While moving backwards towards his own goal, Bah measures Abde up well and gets his feet in order, before matching him step-for-step and taking away the ball back across goal, having ushered him onto his weaker foot.
Despite the natural difficulties of being an 18-year-old rookie, suddenly playing at a much higher level, and doing so in one of the worst three teams in LaLiga, Bah has rarely looked overstretched in his defending.
Inevitably, there have been subtle errors of misjudgement and the moments of over-aggression. To defend well is to limit errors — not avoid them completely — and Bah hasn’t gotten everything right. But he hasn’t looked flustered by his environment or swept up by the dynamics of play.
At this very early stage, Bah’s flashes and relative consistency in the open field are among the most promising news. Whether he’s been in a central pair of on the right of a central three, he’s performed well in the balancing act of defending at different heights on the pitch, where your positioning is tested and where you always run the risk of either being over-aggressive or not aggressive enough. (Just before the winter break, there was a video published from Atlético’s win at Barcelona where precisely that topic was being aired after conceding. While Oblak, Griezmann, and De Paul lobbied for the back line stepping out more, the only defender in the argument, Giménez, argued that they couldn’t.)
Not to mention, the defensive line he’s played in so far has been a turnstile of different players, combinations, and systems. There hasn’t been much by the way of sturdy foundations surrounding Bah, which speaks further to the way he’s evaded the ragged moments you’d expect from a young defender in such a context.
Bah’s ability to hold up in the open field is important for the fact that his defensive prowess in deeper areas looks a pretty safe thing (that being said while knowing it’s impossible to be certain at this point, and with plenty of nous in the box still to be naturally acquired). Being able to defend on the move and when the game is in its most dynamic phases, as well as stand out when its time to defend the box, is any centre back’s ticket to moving up the career ladder.
At the very least, it’ll get you noticed — as appears to have happened.
On that note, Bah has made a pretty formidable start as far as presential defending goes. Among centre backs with 600+ minutes played in LaLiga this season, he currently ranks in the top five for both aerial duel success (71%) and clearances per 90 (6.3). As touched on earlier, that’s not to say he’s a top-five box defender in the league, but it is instructive on an individual basis. When married up with the eye test, it’s pretty clear that Bah is a forceful presence inside the area. Especially when we’re talking about an 18-year-old.
In a game against Valencia back in December, Bah racked up 13 clearances and won 6/8 aerial duels in his side’s eventual 1-0 victory. Their opponents crossed the ball an astonishing 64 times over the course of 98 minutes, which was the most by any side in a LaLiga game since 2019. However, they only put up 0.85 xG and landed just two attempts on target overall, in a second half that was typified by Bah’s dominance of the penalty area.
(Side note: The last defender aged 21 or younger to make as many clearances in a LaLiga game was Mohammed Salisu, over five years ago, who also just happens to be a player Valladolid once recruited directly from African football.
And was later sold to the Premier League…)
Flickers of distributive talent
Playing in a team merely trying to stay in LaLiga, the opportunities for Bah to stand out with the ball aren’t exactly abundant. Valladolid aren’t looking to go through the thirds from the back very often, nor do they have much weight in the possession battle. The recent managerial change isn’t likely to improve anything on that front either. Diego Cocca hasn’t arrived to initiate a ball-playing revolution.
Suffice to say, you won’t find Juma Bah’s name at the top end of any distribution stats in LaLiga. Within what’s reasonable or possible in his current context, however, there have been things to like.
Overall, the teenager has shown good reliability in deciding when and when not to play. As mentioned before, Valladolid aren’t always spacing the pitch to be able to go through the thirds, nor is there an abundance of midfielders looking to make themselves available when the ball is at Bah’s feet. In that environment, his smartest decision is often reduced to playing over the top of midfield.
With that said, it’s clear that Bah has a better vision of the game than his pass completion numbers would otherwise tell you. He’s not in a hurry to bypass the midfield and loft one into the channel.
Bah could certainly make his life easier on the possession front, what with the grind that Real Valladolid are engaged in to try and stay in the league. It’s hard to imagine his side spending hours and hours on build-up play, choreographing patterns to evade opposition pressure and arrive to the attacking half in control. Diego Cocca would probably trade five of those a game for his defenders not losing the ball in their own half.
Not content to simplify things entirely, however, Bah keeps hunting his opportunities to play. He refuses to let attackers off the defensive hook; instead, looking for his moments to keep Valladolid’s possession alive.
Even in their relegation six-pointer against Valencia, when all anyone in the ground seemed to be thinking about in the second half was when the full time whistle would sound, the teenager was still thinking there was football to be had.
Bah’s poise when finding solutions from the defensive third might not be massively impactful in the grand scheme — Valladolid still have a long way to go to arrive to goal and opposition defenders are usually better than their attackers — but that doesn’t figure in his natural approach on the ball. Quite simply, there’s more that Bah is capable of than what Valladolid’s current context requires.
Another promising aspect of Bah’s play is being able to make a defensive action and then follow it up with another positive one, or flip from defensive to attacking thinking with little waste in general. There was that moment where he stripped Nico Williams in November, and the clip below from the recent Betis game stands out as one where he added a lot of (unexpected) value.
Betis have been one of the top counter-pressing sides in LaLiga this season, but watch how sharp Bah is at spotting the opportunity and feeding the pass through a tight window into Kike Pérez — in turn, setting Valladolid off on attack where every Betis midfielder was caught ahead of the ball.
Like everything attached to Bah’s game at this early stage, clubs are looking for glimmers rather than absolute certainties. Moments like the one above stand for much more than a couple of misplaced passes, as they show a good sense of place and being able to appreciate the wider game situation.
The paradox of all that’s related to Bah and his development is that despite probably needing to see more of him to be absolutely sure, there isn’t going to be a whole lot of time left if you’re a club weighing up whether to act upon your interest. Throw in the fact that Valladolid are currently in the relegation zone and probably thinking about their economic situation in the worst case scenario, and the urgency only grows for those taking a look.
With rumours swirling and scouting departments no doubt already well down the line in their work, they will very quickly have to ask themselves: have we seen enough to override the fact we aren’t going to have enough time to see more?
Then again, that’s essentially the book on deciding whether you want to sign a young player or not these days. It’s never been easier to become aware of players across the globe, meaning you have to be quick on the trigger. Then, as much as anything, it becomes a battle to secure the rights to the development of said player – a process that can then be shaped in the way the winning club sees fit.
Bah might be great. He might not. But there’ll be plenty who want to take ownership of finding out which one it will be.
