Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 28,729]

lol, how far we have fallen in some areas and are paying for past misdeeds

Chelsea can use Bakayoko as leverage for Bulka’s return

https://theprideoflondon.com/2020/05/25/chelsea-can-use-bakayoko-leverage-bulka-return/

 

 

[Atomiswave 6,072]

46 minutes ago, Vesper said:

fuck Scott McLachlan, he was a major driver behind Drinkwater, Baba, Emerson, Zappacosta, Bakayoko, Morata, etc 

I remember reading long ago (I will try and find it) he was against signing Kante and was overruled

I wager he helped to block a shit tonne of sales of dregs too

Chelsea’s Recruitment Troubles

https://allthingschelsea.blog/2019/04/16/chelseas-recruitment-troubles/

Exactly, they keep making mistakes yet sit comfortably in their positions. The players you just mentioned reeks of incompetence.

[milka 3,344]

 

[OhForAGreavsie 5,890]

3 hours ago, Vesper said:

lol, how far we have fallen in some areas and are paying for past misdeeds

Chelsea can use Bakayoko as leverage for Bulka’s return

https://theprideoflondon.com/2020/05/25/chelsea-can-use-bakayoko-leverage-bulka-return/

 

 

I think people know my thoughts on this so it will surprise no one that I would go for such a deal. I'm less certain that Marcin would however. The fact that he was given zero minutes, at any level, in the season before he left suggests a big falling out with the club. Maybe he threw his toys out of the pram after the signing of Kepa, maybe the club quarantined him because he refused an offer of an extension and a loan*. Either way, seventy-one million unnecessarily spent pounds later, there would be some repair work to be done before a return can happen.

*I don't know that such a deal was offered but it's a more than reasonable guess that it was.

[Jase 43,479]

11 hours ago, Vesper said:

lol, how far we have fallen in some areas and are paying for past misdeeds

Chelsea can use Bakayoko as leverage for Bulka’s return

https://theprideoflondon.com/2020/05/25/chelsea-can-use-bakayoko-leverage-bulka-return/

 

 

Firstly, why the hell would PSG want Bakayoko? Assuming Tuchel stays on or they hire an attacking manager to replace him, why on earth would they want someone with a poor technical ability like Bakayoko? 

And secondly, the proposed solution to our goalkeeper problem is to bring someone who decided to leave for game time elsewhere and has played only 1 (ONE) game so far at that new club? If we want to solve the issue, we should just go buy a proven quality keeper and not someone who isn't and certainly not if that person has played only ONE game at the current club and barely even makes the matchday squad for that matter. 

[Vesper 28,729]

The Premier League, Spain’s big two or stay put? The battle for Ferran Torres

https://theathletic.com/1830378/2020/05/25/ferran-torres-valencia-liverpool-barcelona-manchester-city-united-psg/

Ferran Torres has always been a kid in a hurry, knowing where he wanted to go and the fastest way to get there.

So Valencia owner Peter Lim now has to look sharp himself or one of European football’s most exciting attacking talents will likely go on the market this summer at a knockdown price.

Out of contract in 12 months’ time, talks over Torres’ future had been deadlocked through the autumn and spring. The situation was already coming to a crux before the coronavirus crisis complicated matters even further, both on a club level and personally, for the 20-year-old.

An interested observer of the situation is Curro Torres, who won two La Liga titles and a UEFA Cup as a right-back for Los Che in the early 2000s and then coached his namesake when the youngster was coming through the ranks at the club.

“Ferran has the recognition of the Valencia fans and now what he is looking for is the recognition of the club,” Curro Torres tells The Athletic. “He is already one of the most important players in the squad. His performances have shown that. Logically, Lim would also want to count on players like him.”

A double European Championship winner at youth level with Spain, Torres has already made 88 senior appearances for Valencia’s first team. This season has been his first as a regular starter in both La Liga and the Champions League, and he has excelled despite another season of drama at Mestalla on and off the pitch.

Borussia Dortmund have reportedly already had an offer turned down, while Manchester City, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Juventus and any other big European club with their eyes open have been following the situation with interest.

Valencia’s hierarchy have been trying for months now to make progress on talks to extend a contract which ends in June 2021 and includes a €100 million release clause.

Torres’ attachment to the club he supported as a boy has always been clear. But those who know him best also say he has always been ambitious and single-minded about how to best manage his talent and make his way to the very highest levels of the game.

“I am not inside anymore and do not know the situation exactly,” says Curro Torres, now coach of Segunda Division team Lugo. “But there is no doubt that if the club have to make a big (financial) effort for anyone, it must be Ferran. He is the player in the squad with the most potential. We will have to see what happens. Ferran has ‘Valencianismo’ inside him. He has grown up with the club. There is no doubt about that. But often, people have their ambitions for their lives and Valencia, in this case, must be able to convince him to stay.”

---

Anybody with even a passing interest in Valencia has known about Torres’ potential for years. The kid born just 20 minutes drive from the club’s Paterna training ground entered its youth system at six years old and was quickly identified as a future star.

Also a regular at Paterna through that time was Curro Torres, who coached Valencia Mestalla B team between 2014 and 2017.

“Ferran was a player, who stood out above everyone,” he says. “It was easy to see that he had different qualities and enormous potential. He always showed great personality on the pitch and had the physical attributes to make a difference. As a kid, he was always playing with older youngsters but he still stood out, with that capacity to adapt, to work hard and take on what he was told. He was clear about what he wanted. Everyone in the academy knew he had great potential.”

Another who spotted Torres’ potential early was Santi Denia, a former La Liga-winning defender with Atletico Madrid, who has spent the last decade coaching Spain’s youth sides.

“The first time I saw Ferran, he was playing with Valencia Under-15s in a regional Spanish championship,” Denia tells The Athletic. “I kept an eye on him and called him up for the national team when I could. Technically, he was always very good; his first touch generally perfect. Physically, he could protect the ball, had the pace to take people on, and the stamina to keep repeating efforts. He also had the right attitude. He was one of those players who youth coaches like, who would ask you lots of questions: ‘Why are we doing this exercise, what do I do if this happens?’. He had everything he needed to reach the level he is at now.”

Progress through the ranks with Spain’s underage teams was also rapid. Alongside fellow Valencia prospects Victor Chust and Abel Ruiz, Torres was a key member of the Denia-coached side that won the European Under-17 Championships in Croatia in 2017, taking the final on penalties against an England team including Jadon Sancho, Phil Foden and Callum Hudson-Odoi. His contribution was even more outstanding at the Under-19 Euros in 2019 in Armenia, when he scored both goals in the final as “La Rojita” beat Portugal 2-0.

“Since Ferran started coming with the under-16s, he was an automatic pick on the right wing,” Denia says. “He always stood out and was decisive in key games. He had the personality to take on responsibility, which was important for the coach. When you get to the semi-finals or the final, and things are getting difficult, he put his efforts at the service of the team. Against Portugal, he did a spectacular amount of work and football rewarded him with the two goals to win the final.”

Denia says that such early success has not gone to the head of a youngster who has been a natural leader of his underage teams.

“To reach the level he has so quickly, you must have a good head on your shoulders and good people around you,” Denia says. “You have to look after yourself and be professional. It’s true that I am not the most objective, as he is almost like a son to me after our years together. But he is a really good lad, a friend to his team-mates, someone who brings the team together, can be the soul of the group, a leader. He cracks the jokes and when he is feeling good, the team tends to do well.”

His peers Chust and Ruiz were tempted away from Valencia by Madrid and Barcelona respectively as teenagers. Centre-back Chust has played just nine games this season for Castilla, Madrid’s B team, in Spain’s third tier. Centre-forward Ruiz was moved on last January as Barca needed money quickly to balance the books and has played just three minutes so far for his new Portuguese club Braga, his loan move becoming a permanent transfer on June 30.

Torres and his camp rejected similar offers to earn more money elsewhere and that decision has paid off with a much more rapid arrival at the top level.

“Ferran has grown up in an ideal situation: at home in his city with his people and his family,” Denia says. “At Madrid and Barcelona, their transfer policy means that accelerating the route to the first team is very difficult. But these are decisions that players make with their family and their advisors and must be respected. At Valencia, Ferran moved quickly through the youth grades, which was ideal to reach the first team.”

Curro Torres was involved in the decision to move Torres quickly up to the Valencia Mestalla (reserve) team, where he was regularly training with adults and made a senior debut in Spain’s third tier in October 2016.

“We were keeping a close eye on him. He was always playing at level above his age,” he says. “We decided that despite his age, the experience of being with the older players would be good for us. At just 16, he was able to show the same capacity and ambition and talent playing with the adults. The team was doing well too, so he could be in an atmosphere where he could learn and improve. He was accepted within the group and got on well, even though he had other players ahead of him.”

Valencia have had many talented young creative midfielders and attackers through recent times, including David Silva and Juan Mata, who left Mestalla for success in the Premier League. Asked to compare the youngster to any former Los Che player, Curro Torres chooses Vicente Rodriguez, a team-mate on the Valencia team which had such success under Rafa Benitez in the early 2000s.

“You can compare him with Vicente, although Vicente was left-footed and Ferran is right-footed,” Curro Torres says. “They have the same profile. They work very hard, are technically very skilled, offensively very powerful, take people on one-on-one, score goals, cross the ball too.”

Valencia’s senior coach Marcelino Garcia Toral was also keeping a close eye and Torres made his Primera Division debut in February 2018 as a substitute at Malaga. His first start came a few weeks later at Athletic Bilbao’s intimidating Estadio San Mames, marking the occasion with a startlingly mature assist for Geoffrey Kondogbia.

---

Valencia knew they had a potential superstar on their hands, while Torres and his advisors were also well aware of his worth, with reported interest from Juventus and a number of Premier League clubs. A new deal which guaranteed him a senior squad place was agreed with Valencia’s then-general manager Mateu Alemany in October 2018. Torres continued to make mostly brief substitute appearances in La Liga, while his coach tried to keep a lid on growing excitement at Mestalla.

Dampening the hype became more and more difficult. January 2019 saw Torres score a fine solo goal against Sporting Gijon in the Copa del Rey, when he drove into the box, dummied the keeper and calmly finished with his left foot. Four days later came his first La Liga goal, controlling a difficult ball on his chest and rifling home right-footed to equalise against Celta Vigo.

Marcelino played him all through the early Copa rounds but then kept him on the bench during the shock final win over Barcelona as Valencia won their first trophy in 11 years. Such caution using young players, also including South Korea underage star Lee Kang-in, was reportedly one of the reasons for growing tensions between the coach and some of the club hierarchy.

Curro Torres says that Marcelino was just doing his job in protecting a talented teenager and preparing him to make an impact when he was ready.

“That was normal,” he says. “So that when they come into the team, everything goes as it should and you reach the point where it is impossible to hold them back any more. And with their performances, they win their regular place in the team. Now, Ferran is one of the most promising right wingers or right midfielders in all of European football.”

Marcelino was not around to reap the rewards of that prudence, as he was fired just three games into the 2019-20 season. Replacement Albert Celades has shown no reluctance at all to use the youngster. His first Champions League goal came in November’s 4-1 win over Lille and the following weekend, he scored a superb solo effort in La Liga against Granada, carrying the ball from halfway before thumping a shot to the net from 20 yards.

The youngest player in Valencia’s team was emerging through a rollercoaster season as their leader in the biggest games. During the following month’s regional derby at home to Villarreal, Torres capped an exhilarating man-of-the-match performance by slamming in a second-half winner. He then celebrated with the Mestalla crowd by grabbing the badge on his shirt and roaring: “I’m from here”.

Either side of the winter break, Celades’ team continued to raise their games in their biggest matches. Torres was outstanding in a 1-1 home draw against Real Madrid and set up the clinching goal in a 2-0 victory at home to Barcelona. Curro Torres was not surprised by his former charge settling so quickly at the highest level.

“Ferran has always had that capability. When he gets an opportunity, he takes it and keeps improving,” he says. “He keeps looking for the ball, even when the team is having problems, and that speaks to the class of footballer he is. When the difficult moment comes, he rolls up his sleeves and shows his commitment.”

Given Torres’ impact at Valencia, there had been talk that Spain senior coach Luis Enrique was considering calling him up for a full international debut and a possible role at this summer’s Euro 2020 championships.

“I am sure that Luis Enrique and his staff are following Ferran for sure. He is now a fixture with the Under-21 team and standing out at Valencia in a position which is very specific,” Denia says. “So he has a chance to go to the senior team.”

---

The next challenge for Torres to face was the arrival of coronavirus. He played all 90 minutes of Valencia’s 4-1 Champions League last-16 first-leg defeat at Atalanta on February 19, a game now remembered as the “biological bomb” which significantly spread COVID-19 in both Italy and Spain.

Torres was one of the Los Che players who fought hardest to turn that tie around in the second leg on March 10 behind closed doors at Mestalla, He scored one goal and made another in the surreal 4-3 defeat played behind closed doors, with noise drifting into the stadium from fans gathered outside.

The following weekend, Valencia defender Ezequiel Garay became the first La Liga player to publicly announce he had tested positive. Others followed.

Torres made the best of the lockdown by purchasing extra gym equipment and adding four more kilos of muscle to his 6ft frame while working out at home. When Celades and his team returned to individual training at Paterna on May 9, his excellent condition stood out again in the physical testing.

Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking on his contract situation. Those close to the player are not keen to disclose any details of talks with the club, and say Torres himself is solely focused on finishing the last 11 games of the 2019-20 season. Clearly, however, the club have a job to do in convincing him that Mestalla is the best place for him to continue his progress. The sacking of experienced hand Alemany along with Marcelino last autumn has not helped the two sides reach an agreement.

Curro Torres says that Torres and his long-term advisors have previously seen the value of remaining at Valencia to progress but there could come a point when his career will best be progressed elsewhere.

“I’ve no doubt he has had offers from other clubs, both inside Spain and abroad,” he says. “It is normal that the best players are wooed by the biggest clubs. But he was clear about what he wanted, which was to come through at Valencia. And he has achieved that. Now there is another moment when the club has to try and reach an agreement for him to stay. He is young but it is normal that he has his ambitions. I am sure that he would like to achieve those ambitions with Valencia but sometimes, these things are difficult, negotiations can be tough, and we will have to see what happens.”

An extra complicating factor is Valencia’s already tricky financial situation, which saw the club try to sell their first choice centre-forward Rodrigo Moreno to Barcelona last summer and again in January. Even before the serious financial consequences of the coronavirus crisis, there had been an acceptance that the club would have to let go important players to bring in money this summer.

There is also an understanding that Valencia will not allow the club’s most saleable asset to enter the last 12 months of his contract and run the risk of losing him for a much smaller development fee in summer 2021. That could mean they would be open to selling during the next transfer window for a price significantly below his €100 million release clause.

Joining a very top team like Manchester City or Real Madrid would bring a potential risk of Torres’ rapid progress being halted, as he would have much higher competition for a starting place each week. Although Denia does not think that would be a serious problem for a player who has so far always taken every step up in his stride.

“You never know what will happen,” he says. “Whenever he has jumped a level, he has had no problems. If you are talking about Manchester City or Real Madrid, it takes a lot to get games there. You have to earn your playing time. But for a player who wants to win Champions Leagues, he has a better chance at one of those bigger clubs. It is a challenge for the player, to keep playing, keep improving, and be ambitious to win trophies.”

Torres’ physical attributes and direct style would be a good fit for the Premier League, says Denia.

“He could play for any team in the world but, for me, he could be very useful in English football,” Denia says. “We always used him with the national team as a pure right winger, on his natural side, where he could take on people on the outside. And wingers are often used in England, more than in Italy, for example, although he has evolved more with Valencia, with Marcelino and also now Celades too, playing inside, or even on his opposite wing. He is developing his game in a spectacular way and can keep growing at Valencia or any other club.”

Curro Torres says that he is sure that his former player will make the right decision at this point, and that whether he moves on or not this summer, he will remain on course to become one of Spain’s most important players over the next decade.

“Ferran has always had that ability to appear much more mature than his age,” he says. “And be able to manage situations that a kid of his age would take the wrong decision. He makes very few mistakes. That has helped him to make that big step up at a club like Valencia, where it is not easy. He is still very young but with a very big personality. He is capable of becoming one of the great players in Spanish football.”

[Superblue 6,370]

9 hours ago, Jason said:

Firstly, why the hell would PSG want Bakayoko? Assuming Tuchel stays on or they hire an attacking manager to replace him, why on earth would they want someone with a poor technical ability like Bakayoko? 

And secondly, the proposed solution to our goalkeeper problem is to bring someone who decided to leave for game time elsewhere and has played only 1 (ONE) game so far at that new club? If we want to solve the issue, we should just go buy a proven quality keeper and not someone who isn't and certainly not if that person has played only ONE game at the current club and barely even makes the matchday squad for that matter. 

On the subject of Bakayoko, I haven't been tracking him in detail but from what I've heard he's played well this season at Monaco and was obviously excellent in the season at Monaco before we brought him. He also ended up having a pretty good season at Milan last time too.

I don't watch much European football anymore but I don't think the French or Italian leagues are either the pace or quality of our league and maybe more time on the ball helps aid some of his technical limitations which were showed up when he was here.

PSG I think lack that type of physical presence in their midfield and as he's always performed well in France, perhaps that's why they're interested. I would tend to agree though, I would have expected PSG to set their sights higher.

To be honest I'm willing for anybody to take him off our hands for a realistic fee right now!

[Blues Forever 1,232]

Simon Johnson on the Athletic Chelsea Podcast: "I was talking to someone the other day and they were suggesting that in all likelihood there will be one big signing and then take it from there".

https://theathletic.com/podcast/139-straight-outta-cobham/?episode=28

[MoroccanBlue 5,291]

14 minutes ago, Blues Forever said:

Simon Johnson on the Athletic Chelsea Podcast: "I was talking to someone the other day and they were suggesting that in all likelihood there will be one big signing and then take it from there".

https://theathletic.com/podcast/139-straight-outta-cobham/?episode=28

Like I said, if we lineup like this next season all will be forgiven. 

Kepa

James---Tomori---Gabriel--Telles

Jorginho---Kovacic

Ziyech---Havertz----Pulisic

Tammy 

 

Giroud/CHO/Mount/Loftus-Cheek/Kante/Gilmour/Dave/Rudiger/Christensen/Alonso

[LAM09 6,739]

Like I said, if we lineup like this next season all will be forgiven. 

Kepa

James---Tomori---Gabriel--Telles

Jorginho---Kovacic

Ziyech---Havertz----Pulisic

Tammy 

 

Giroud/CHO/Mount/Loftus-Cheek/Kante/Gilmour/Dave/Rudiger/Christensen/Alonso

Relying on subpar strikers for another season?

Will be battling for top 4 at best, if that remains the case.

[MoroccanBlue 5,291]

2 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

Relying on subpar strikers for another season?

Will be battling for top 4 at best, if that remains the case.

Werner wants Liverpool and Lautaro wants Barca?  Who else is out there is available and is a massive upgrade on what we have?

Least we can do is improve the squad with end product. Ziyech was the best chance creator in Europe last season and Havertz continues to bang them in. Pulisic was also very productive for us before his injuries. 

[LAM09 6,739]

Werner wants Liverpool and Lautaro wants Barca?  Who else is out there is available and is a massive upgrade on what we have? Least we can do is improve the squad with end product. Ziyech was the best chance creator in Europe last season and Havertz continues to bang them in. Pulisic was also very productive for us before his injuries.    

 

The term massive upgrade is obviously subjective, but I believe Osimhen would be a notable improvement.    

 

 

At this point, I'd even take Icardi despite everything.

 

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,291]

13 minutes ago, LAM09 said:

The term massive upgrade is obviously subjective, but I believe Osimhen would be a notable improvement.    

 

Forgot about him tbf

[Atomiswave 6,072]

1 hour ago, Superblue_1986 said:

On the subject of Bakayoko, I haven't been tracking him in detail but from what I've heard he's played well this season at Monaco and was obviously excellent in the season at Monaco before we brought him. He also ended up having a pretty good season at Milan last time too.

I don't watch much European football anymore but I don't think the French or Italian leagues are either the pace or quality of our league and maybe more time on the ball helps aid some of his technical limitations which were showed up when he was here.

PSG I think lack that type of physical presence in their midfield and as he's always performed well in France, perhaps that's why they're interested. I would tend to agree though, I would have expected PSG to set their sights higher.

To be honest I'm willing for anybody to take him off our hands for a realistic fee right now!

EPL is too much for him, that much is clear. As you said we should get rid if any decent offers come along, lets hope Marina doesnt pull another Bats this time.

1 hour ago, LAM09 said:

Relying on subpar strikers for another season?

Will be battling for top 4 at best, if that remains the case.

Yeah Tammy needs help, it will only help his progress more imo. But getting Havertz will do us so well too.

[NikkiCFC 7,928]

1 hour ago, MoroccanBlue said:

Like I said, if we lineup like this next season all will be forgiven. 

Kepa

James---Tomori---Gabriel--Telles

Jorginho---Kovacic

Ziyech---Havertz----Pulisic

Tammy 

 

Giroud/CHO/Mount/Loftus-Cheek/Kante/Gilmour/Dave/Rudiger/Christensen/Alonso

RLC for Tammy and Havertz as number 9 would be better for me.

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

According to La Gazette du Fennec, Chelsea have now come forward and ‘officially contacted’ Brentford over signing winger Saïd Benrahma, having made the 24-year old one of their ‘priorities’.

[Jase 43,479]

2 hours ago, Superblue_1986 said:

On the subject of Bakayoko, I haven't been tracking him in detail but from what I've heard he's played well this season at Monaco and was obviously excellent in the season at Monaco before we brought him. He also ended up having a pretty good season at Milan last time too.

I don't watch much European football anymore but I don't think the French or Italian leagues are either the pace or quality of our league and maybe more time on the ball helps aid some of his technical limitations which were showed up when he was here.

PSG I think lack that type of physical presence in their midfield and as he's always performed well in France, perhaps that's why they're interested. I would tend to agree though, I would have expected PSG to set their sights higher.

But no team can succeed at the highest level if they have players with poor technical ability in their team, especially if they are an attacking sort of team. I mean we, known to be a pragmatic team in the past, were tearing our hair at out at Bakayoko or Matic for instance. 

[Vesper 28,729]

Meet Edmond Tapsoba, the Bundesliga’s new sensation

https://theathletic.com/1825331/2020/05/23/edmond-tapsoba-bundesliga-sensation-interview-leverkusen/

You know what they say about young, foreign players who arrive late in the January transfer window: “It will take time him for him to settle down. Adjusting to a new league, a new country, a new language and the manager’s special brand of football isn’t easy. It’s a learning process. We have to be patient.”

Well, you can forget all of that, at least in this particular, very special case.

Ten games into his Bayer Leverkusen career, defender Edmond Tapsoba has demolished all realistic expectations the club might have had before his €20 million January transfer from Portugal’s Vitoria Guimaraes.

The 21-year-old Burkina Faso international hasn’t just been consistently excellent in spectacular unshowy, ice-cool fashion, his performances at the heart of the Leverkusen backline have transformed the entire team. Where there was once fragility and disorganisation, calmness and control now rules. His crisp build-up play and confidence in dealing with one-vs-ones against strikers in transition are some of the main reasons why coach Peter Bosz’s high-press, high-risk tactics now come with high rewards.

“It’s all about attack in the Bundesliga — teams go for it,” Tapsoba tells The Athletic. “When we lose the ball, we immediately push them to give it back. It can make life difficult as a defender at times, but I love it.”

Speaking in French, he is a quiet, thoughtful communicator and the natural confidence he exudes on the pitch shines through in his self-appraisal too. “I’d like to think I am calm on the ball. That is one of my qualities, a cool head. I am not flustered. And I like bringing it out from the back. I’m technically good, I’m quick, my reactions are good and I think my tactical awareness is improving all the time. I am loud out on the pitch and talk a lot. I am at ease playing this way.”

The results bear out his sense of comfort. Since Tapsoba’s debut after a somewhat dramatic last-minute arrival on January 31 — more on that later — Leverkusen have won nine of 10 games and drawn the other, away to RB Leipzig, in all competitions. A win over Borussia Monchengladbach today (Saturday) would put them back into the top four for the first time since August.

They’re drawn to face fourth-tier Saarbrucken in the semi-finals of the DFB Pokal — Germany’s FA Cup — and look a good bet to win the Europa League later when its knockout phase resumes later this summer, having beaten Rangers 3-1 in Glasgow in the first leg of their last 16 tie. “We’re capable of winning trophies,” Tapsoba says. For a club who have been repeatedly thwarted in search of major trophies for nearly three decades — their last silverware, the Pokal, came in 1993 — being seen as genuine contenders again is an achievement in itself.

Still, talking about major titles feels a bit surreal for a 6ft 3in centre-back, considering he never experienced organised football before the age of 14, was still playing for Vitoria’s under-19s two years ago and only managed to establish himself in their first team at the beginning of this season. Few players at this level can have improved as rapidly as he has.

Tapsoba started playing football in the street with his friends in Karpala, a district in the southeast of Burkina Faso’s capital, Ougadougou. “That’s just normal. It’s how it is done. I was from a poor family so, even at a young age, I had to bring money in somehow. Then, I was picked up by a newly-set-up local youth academy, Salitas FC, and they paid us to play for them. That helped my family. It is always like that – you fight and earn money for your family. I still do that now.”

At Salitas, run by the former Burkina Faso midfielder Boureima Maiga, Tapsoba learned “the basics, in a more structured way”. They had one year of training but as the first intake of players, the teenagers immediately became members of the first-team. They played in division three, then in division two and, later, in division one as the youngest team in the league, against players who could be double their age and three times their size. “It was tough coming up against older players, but we had talented players, and that’s where my game really developed,” he recalls. “Good facilities and good coaching.”

Tapsoba quickly proved the most promising prospect of the group. With the help of a Portuguese Salitas coach who was friends with the sporting director at second division Leixoes, the 18-year-old was invited for trial in 2017. They ended up putting him in their under-19s. “It was difficult, a big leap to leave home and go to a new country without the language, but they made me feel welcome there. There were people in the academy who spoke French and English – I had learned a bit of English already – so I could communicate with them and that helped a lot.”

The football was completely different to what he had been used to, however. “In Portugal, the pace was different. It was more technical, more precise. The games were more intense, even at junior level, than I was used to. You had to concentrate more. But I started out in the under-19s in the youth championship, playing against people my own age rather than older men, for once, and that gave me a chance to learn.”

Staying in Leixoes’ hometown of Matosinhos, just north of Porto, was the first time Tapsoba had been away from his family. “It was difficult. I missed them, and they missed me. There were times when I found it really hard and wondered if I had done the right thing, but it was also a motivation: to do well for them. They were happy for me and pushed me on. Family means a lot to me. I would often speak with my father after games, and he’d tell me what people were saying about me back home. That they were proud of me.”

Someone else had noticed his progress, too. Tapsoba received a phone call from a man purporting to be Deco, the former Porto, Barcelona, Chelsea and Portugal midfielder, and now an agent. “‘Hello, it’s Deco…’ I didn’t believe it was him,” Tapsoba laughs. “I mean, it couldn’t be Deco! It had to be a joke or something. I was just, like, ‘OK, sure’.

“He said he had a club for me — Guimaraes — and wanted to know if I had a representative, but I thought it was someone pulling my leg. But there was a second meeting at my home and it was only then that I realised this was real. Deco spoke to me about where he saw my career going, what he thought could be achieved, and said he wanted to help guide me. When someone like Deco speaks, you listen. Everything he’d told me was exciting. I didn’t really hesitate.”

Tapsoba was signed to play in the Vitoria B team, but started off in their junior sides in 2018 as he had joined mid-season and it was hard to break through. It took until last summer for coach Ivo Vieira to give him a chance to play for the first team: “He (Vieira) is a former defender and all about possession of the ball and that suited me. He had confidence in me, really from pre-season, when I did quite well in the friendlies we played. He worked on parts of my game, making sure I concentrated better and could read the game better, but he saw something in me. I will always be grateful to him for that.”

By Christmas, clubs all over Europe had become aware of him. Wolverhampton Wanderers showed an interest, as did Leicester City. “They had scouted me a lot,” Tapsoba reveals. “I spoke a lot with Maiga, my mentor, and he stressed that I should take things step by step and shouldn’t try and skip stages in my development. Moving to the Premier League, to a club where I would not necessarily play a lot of games at first, might not be the best idea. There was also an issue securing a work permit. I have time for England at some stage in my career, I hope. But I am in the right place now. Bayer Leverkusen are a team with a lot of talented young players, they bring them through and give them chances. They also play good football – I had watched lots of their matches – and we thought they might be a team who would complement my style of play better at this stage.”

The move that made Tapsoba the most expensive Burkinabe player in history almost broke down over a technical fault, however. One day before the end of the transfer window, he and Deco were due to fly to Dusseldorf in the agent’s private jet. “We couldn’t take off because the GPS system was broken. When they told us it would take some time to sort it out, I was completely stressed,” Tapsoba says. “I ended up ringing my mother and speaking with her a bit. She told me not to worry, tried to calm me down. It worked. We ended up getting a flight early the next morning and thankfully, there were no issues.”

Tapsoba had been terrified he might have to perform a song as part of his Leverkusen initiation (“I can’t sing!”), so was grateful to find no such performance was required. His new team-mates might find it hard to believe he could ever get nervous. Bosz had told the press Tapsoba would need at least a week to acclimatise but he was so convincing in his first few training sessions the Dutchman picked him straight away for the home game against Borussia Dortmund — and a personal battle against one Erling Haaland.

Tapsoba cites the Mali and Porto striker Moussa Marega as the toughest opponents he has come up against. “Marega is such a handful, so physically strong, and gives you so much work to do. And Haaland… his movement. And you know he will finish. Give him a chance and he takes it. You can’t afford to make a single mistake.” Haaland ended up not finding the net for the first time in German football, after scoring eight goals in four games following his January move from Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg. Leverkusen won the match, 4-3.

“He plays it so cool, as if he’s been here for 10 years,” midfielder Nadiem Amiri has said of Tapsoba; Bosz has never seen a player “adapt this quickly”. It’s bewildering to think what level he could get to if his development continues at the same pace. In Leverkusen, they have started comparing him to Lucio, the Brazilian defender who led Bayer to the 2002 Champions League final in his debut season. But even the 2002 World Cup winner didn’t quite have the stabilising influence that Tapsoba has had this early in his spell at the BayArena.

Invariably, the name Virgil van Dijk comes to mind.

Tapsoba credits the Liverpool centre-back as an inspiration — “he’s the best defender in the world, and someone I really look up to” — but his first role model was a different Premier League player. “John Stones, at Everton. I really enjoyed watching him, he made a huge impression on me. His manner on the ball, and the way he played with the ball. I loved that. I still go back to Stones when it comes to playing in a certain style.”

Back home, Tapsoba has already become a big name in his own right. When Maiga arrived at the Salitas academy wearing the Leverkusen defender’s full kit in February, all the players lined up to form a guard of honour.

Tapsoba, too, was given an emphatic welcome during a recent visit.

“It was like coming home as a hero. I was proud of the reception they gave me. For them, I’m living the dream by playing here in Europe. It shows that anything is possible with hard work. It’s something they can aspire to, and that is a big responsibility for me. But they see I haven’t changed and, when we’re around each other, it’s like it was when we were younger and mates. No difference. I know they’re happy for me.”

Tapsoba has donated hundreds of masks, gloves and hand sanitisers to a market in Ougadougou, to help his country cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. “I’m very worried for the people there,” he says, “I pray every day for things to improve.” Being stuck in his flat for weeks has been a blessing, by comparison, but Tapsoba adds he was relieved to come back to the training ground with his team-mates, and now to be playing again.

This is shaping up to be some season, for the club and himself. “The last few months have been such a whirlwind that sometimes I just have to take a step back and breathe,” he says.

As you’d expect from a player who anticipates the game so well, and never seems to be forced to do things in a hurry, his career outlook is just as clear-minded. “I can achieve so much at Leverkusen, and I will give my all for them. I have a coach who believes in me and whose philosophy of football is like my own. I’m trying to pick up more of the language, and to feel at home. Yes, I am ambitious, but I am young. I have time. This is just the start.”