Chelsea Transfers

[Vesper 30,175]

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.”

[Jase 43,479]

5 hours 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

Big signing in terms of what? A big name? Or big money spent on an average player? 

[Vesper 30,175]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

Big signing in terms of what? A big name? Or big money spent on an average player? 

smells like Chilwell

[Jase 43,479]

2 minutes ago, Vesper said:

smells like Chilwell

I listened to the podcast and they were talking in the context of a striker. So...

[Vesper 30,175]

4 hours ago, Blues Forever said:

 

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’.

this HAS to be bollocks

Saïd Benrahma turns 25yo in August, Boga is 23 until January next year

we could buy Boga back for £13m

Benrahma will sure cost the same or more

Benrahma has never done fuckall except in the Championship, he has barely played in top flight football in his 7 seasons (17 games for Nice, the last one in 2015/16)

Boga has done it in a tough Big 5 league

this also (IF we are looking at LWers) means the club may be getting the shakes over CHO's legal issues

Saïd Benrahma is the type of player Brighton or Bournemouth or Palace would buy, NOT CHELS

 

[Vesper 30,175]

Listening to this SOOC podcast, it just enrages me that Marina turned down £35m for Bats and demanded £45m

now the POS is unsalable at anything over £20m (getting that will be hard as fuck as he has 1 year left on his contract and .... COVID), and we lose him on free in 12 months if we do not take some shit offer

I dont give a damn about what 'wonder deals' she did (she really did not do that much compared to insane quid we have lost from her other rot, I am so sick of her being treated like some fucking transfer guruette)

we are a club run by assclowns 

 

[Vesper 30,175]

1 hour ago, Jason said:

I listened to the podcast and they were talking in the context of a striker. So...

that's what I took away too (I am listening now)

but it was a bit nebulous, so not 100% sure

[ulsterchelsea 3,221]

Could be sniffing around Tagliafico from what some of the more reliable Twitter lads are saying

[OhForAGreavsie 6,073]

14 hours ago, Vesper said:

Saïd Benrahma turns 25yo in August

 

14 hours ago, Vesper said:

Saïd Benrahma is the type of player Brighton or Bournemouth or Palace would buy

Agreed.

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

 

[killer1257 3,282]

 

Which players will we sell?

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

10 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Which players will we sell?
 

Pasalic for sure.

Morata money is coming.

Emerson or Alonso. Probably Emerson.

This is sure thing. And it will get us around 80m pounds.

And we will still try hard to sell Baka, Michy, Moses... But not sure we will succeed.

There is also a possibility of selling Barkley (Newcastle) and if we get new CB one will leave.

Not a chance we sell guys like Drinky, Zappa, Baba... They will be on loan again 

[Atomiswave 6,117]

15 hours ago, Vesper said:

Listening to this SOOC podcast, it just enrages me that Marina turned down £35m for Bats and demanded £45m

now the POS is unsalable at anything over £20m (getting that will be hard as fuck as he has 1 year left on his contract and .... COVID), and we lose him on free in 12 months if we do not take some shit offer

I dont give a damn about what 'wonder deals' she did (she really did not do that much compared to insane quid we have lost from her other rot, I am so sick of her being treated like some fucking transfer guruette)

we are a club run by assclowns 

 

She is def not a transfer guru

21 minutes ago, killer1257 said:

Which players will we sell?

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk
 

Bats Alonso Emerson Baka Chris, maybe Ghorgo.....plus Morata fee will land shortly. We got plenty players that are either spent or just not good enough.

[killer1257 3,282]

Pasalic for sure.
Morata money is coming.
Emerson or Alonso. Probably Emerson.
This is sure thing. And it will get us around 80m pounds.
And we will still try hard to sell Baka, Michy, Moses... But not sure we will succeed.
There is also a possibility of selling Barkley (Newcastle) and if we get new CB one will leave.
Not a chance we sell guys like Drinky, Zappa, Baba... They will be on loan again [emoji20]

I guess we used most of Morata money for Ziyech

Gesendet von meinem SM-G920F mit Tapatalk

[Blues Forever 1,232]

 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

Emerson, Pedro, Willian, Barkley, Batshuayi, and one of Christensen/Zouma need to be sold. 

[Jase 43,479]

 

[Superblue 6,372]

22 minutes ago, Jason said:

 

I would rather we still made a push for Telles. It might be 'just' the Portuguese league but his attacking output for a full back is pretty incredible and could give us a serious weapon out wide. Especially when the players we have who like to play left winger are right footed and have a preference to cut inside.

However if that is not an option, I would take Tagliafico over Chilwell, assuming that Leicester would want £60 - 70m for him.

[NikkiCFC 8,319]

I choose to believe that we will refuse this option because we are much more ambitious. 

I also choose to believe that we also rejected the chance to sign Telles. 

[MoroccanBlue 5,382]

11 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

I choose to believe that we will refuse this option because we are much more ambitious. 

I also choose to believe that we also rejected the chance to sign Telles. 

Are you implying picking Chilwell over Telles and Tagliafico is being more ambitious?