Editorial—Gambian players: Winners and losers in the January transfer window 2025

Every transfer window gets better in relation to Gambian players since the summer transfer of 2023. Agents, scouts, and clubs are now jetting into the country all year round, with their efforts being helped by local clubs and Gambian agents in general. The window denied us a chance to see a move for GK Ebrima Jarju, Alassana Jatta. The latter was drawing interest from Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle. For the Notts County striker, such offers were expected in the early days of his time in Paide (after scoring 13 goals in 17 appearances for the Estonian club). Porto built interest, while FC Admira Wacker Mödling in Austria also had their offer rejected.

Europe’s Top Five
Abdoulie Ceesay has been scoring goals since he arrived in Paide in the summer of 2024 to embark on his professional career from Real de Banjul. Scoring 17 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions for Paide Linnameeskond. Though Estonia is a modest league, his talent was glaring. Remarkably, he netted 13 goals in 15 league matches. For the national team, he scored the only goal between Tunisia and Gambia making him a big target for European clubs, which eventually saw Bundesliga side FC St. Pauli signing him for a record fee of €450K. Zulte Waregem, who bid €150K + add-ons, lost the fight so as Swedish Degerfors IF, who offered €171,447 from their end.

Abdoulie Ceesay move to the Bundesliga is huge and massive. The Gambia ought to have huge numbers playing in Europe’s top 5. (2023) Only Musa Barrow and Ablie Jallow were playing in Europe’s top 5 leagues, which was relatively low. Apart from increasing the number to three (Yankuba Minteh- Brighton, Alieu Fadera -Como, and Abdoulie Ceesay -St. Pauli), he has set the bar high that our players can play in top leagues. It also increases the value of the national team and gives headaches to opponent scouts.

Experienced
FCI Levadia has defended the league title on four occasions, and that’s the upcoming season’s goal. Tambedou has vast experiences in the Premium Liiga. Already having won three titles at the age of 22, Levadia will be hoping that Tambedou’s experience can help them in the domestic league again and in the UEFA qualifiers.

Bubacarr wouldn’t want to remember his stint in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv. For FC Sheriff, it was a loan move, while he last played for Georgian-based club Dinamo Batumi before returning back to Estonia. 2025/2026 is a crucial season on the individual forefront, especially to secure another move.

Partnership is the key
Assan Corr and Abdurahman Badamoesi followed in the footsteps of the following players who moved from Real de Banjul to Paide in 2019.
Alassana Jatta, Muhammed Sanneh, Ebrima Jarju, Ebrima Singhateh, Bubacarr Tambedou, Muhammed Suso, and Abdoulie Ceesay.

Agent Modou Lamin Beyai with Assan Corr & Badamoesi

As Delphlyx said, a partnership that seems to be flourishing is Real De Banjul and Paide. Not only that the clubs have benefitted from such partnerships, but even countries have too. With certain African countries having a good relationship with clubs in Europe. Countries like Senegal. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria are evidence. The Gambia will reach such heights and there will be many clubs like Paide in the coming years.
Abdourahman Badamosi and Pa Assan Corr have signed for three years, but we are expecting a lot from Muhammed Suso, who joined the Estonian giants in July. Foday Darboe, Buba Cham, and Alieu Gibba all had short stints with Paide from Real de Banjul likewise.

Our league is winning

A successful window for me is the local talent getting the required exposure and signing professional contracts. It is such a delight seeing Ebrima Bajo (20) and Gibril Sosseh (18) signing with Swedish sides such as Helsingborg IF and Kalmar FF from Greater Tomorrow and BST Galaxy, respectively.

Kalmar FF and Gambia U20 midfielder Gibril Sosseh

BST Galaxy FC Sporting Director Pa Mulie Jassey, who was responsible for scouting and bringing Gibril to the club, also expressed his admiration saying: “I remember scouting Gibril and knowing right away that he was special. His technical ability, vision and leadership stood out and he proved us right by playing a huge role in our promotion. Seeing him take this next step in his career is a proud moment for me personally and for the club. I have no doubt he will continue to excel at Kalmar FF and we will be cheering for him every step of the way.”

Sweden is a unique country; it allows the players to adapt to the demands before moving to the top ten leagues in Europe. It has actually been a safe haven for Gambian players in particular and African players as a whole. Players such as Amadou Jawo are a testament. Most of the players that leave Sweden and continue their careers abroad leave on record signing, with the number of years that both Bajo and Sosseh signed. I am doubting if they will even spend two years in Sweden. Ivorian Bazoumana Touré left Hammarby for TSG Hoffenheim in a transfer fee of €10m. Ghanaian Benjamin Acquah from Helsingborg to Portimonense, Nigerian Vince Osuji from Kalmar FF to Club Brugge.

Abdoulie Manneh moved from Wallidan to Mjällby AIF has impressed lots of Swedish scouts and clubs who focused mostly on Ghana, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast and are now looking at Gambia talents. A host of Gambian local players have come for trials, signaling more will start knocking on the door of Sweden. The more players we have in the Nordic countries, the bigger the chance to establish our partnership.

Muhammadou Kanteh, joining FC Shakhtar Donetsk, the Basse-born winger scored 4 goals in 6 matches so far which is similar to his stats from him last season. Haruna Rashid Njie (RFS) and Adama Bojang (Stade de Reims) are all testament to the abundance of talent in The Gambia.

Clubs in Gambia are solely benefiting from player sales, and not all clubs have transferred players. Needing the national teams to step up. The recent U17 and U20 have provided a lot of platforms, especially with the U20, which saw 90% of the team that went to the U20 World Cup in Argentina securing contracts abroad, notably Mahmud Bajo, who is now a national team player. Even where the U17 finished third in WAFU A, there is a small movement with Francis Gomez already in Denmark with AC Horsens.

BST Galaxy (Home of Talents) came into the scene three years ago but has managed to pull out nine transfers so far. Despite the gamechanger tag, BST Galaxy will hone most of the upcoming talents because of their ability to transfer players and their structure, leaving old and new clubs behind.

Losers
Can Alasana Manneh secure a move from Hibernian back to European top leagues? Manneh was having a fantastic season with Odense, registering his personal best 6 assists in 17 matches as a central midfielder; the Odense-based team was flying high in the second division.

Maudo Jarjue hasn’t reached his full potential, and that has robbed him of a chance in the national team. The significant drop in form can be clearly seen in his market value, currently at 200k compared to when it was 1M in 2021. Moving to North Macedonia wasn’t what many pundits were predicting for the 1.88m giant defender; there should be a big concern if the player cannot make it in Sweden and Norway. Maybe a 2-year stint with FC Struga Trim & Lim can be a game changer to bounce back.

As just mentioned before, Sweden is a stepping stone, as clearly seen when Elfsborg sold Kenyan Timothy Oumato to Czech side Slavia Prague from Sweden’s IF Elfsborg.

Muhammed Badamosi failing to break through in Belgium is a big concern. One can argue that his first stint in Saudi was a big moment for him compared to the names that had moved there before him. That prolific status was one thing to him in Al Hazem. With Abha Club, the stakes and hopes are higher because he would be the one to return them back to the top flight. It’s a shame to lose such a striker because of the level he is playing and his failure to improve his game.

Yusupha Njie’s move to Qatar was odd and paid little dividend apart from the monetary gains. In Qatar, his club got relegated, and he ended up in Brazil with Santos. With Santos, he failed to register an appearance, which led him to return to Portugal, this time with SC Farense.

Yusupha Njie scored 13 goals in his last season for Boavista. One of his best seasons, a season as good as it was, could have landed him a club in Europe’s top five leagues. However, with over 127 appearances in the Liga Portugal, the Lions of Faro will be hoping the Gambian will be their savior as they currently sit in 17th position.

Transfers

Alasana Manneh- Hibernian

Bai Biran Njie – Dibba FC

Ebrima Bajo -Helsingborgs IF

Dadi Dodou -Bryne FK

Foday Manneh – Käpylän Pallo

Gibril Sosseh -Kalmar FF

Lamin Jawo -FK Jablonec on loan

Nfansu Njie -FC Györi

Musa Jatta- AC Oulu on loan

Modou Barrow -Incheon United

Muhammed Badamosi- Abha Club