Soon after coming off the bench to debut in the senior line up for Swansea against Arsenal Modou Barrow made history as the first Gambian to truly play in the English Premier League. At the same time the lad made himself the most sought-after player for The Gambia and Sweden. A screaming headline in a Swedish newspaper stated that Modou Barrow has begun to pay Swansea off for the 1.75 million pounds invested on him. He was brilliant in the whole 34 minutes he played against the Arsenal, the paper added.
All that is in order but according to Lamin Jassey, a former Gambian FA administrative secretary, the Swedish media is talking of Barrow as their homeboy making it increasingly likely that they may like him to choose Sweden as his international team. In fact, a Swedish commentator went further to ask, “Would he prefer to be Gambian or Swedish international? We hope he chooses the blue-yellow of Sweden.”
From his base in Birmingham, Lamin Jassey asked what should the GFF do for Barrow to choose the Red, White, Blue of The Gambia. For an answer, The Standard spoke to the GFF second vice president Ebou Faye who said his federation considers all Gambian players including Barrow as prospective national team players and have developed a programme on what steps to follow to try to get them.
However, a follower of Swedish football said the Scandinavian nation is not too rich when it comes to high profile international players and Barrow will almost certainly be lured to play for them making it difficult for The Gambia to get him. “But again, he could choose to play for the Scorpions through his father’s persuasion,” our analyst said.
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