Player Profile: Musa Barrow

4 min readJul 15, 2020

Name: Musa Barrow
Date of birth: 14.11.1998
Nationality: Gambian
Current club: Bologna FC
Position: Left/Right Wing or Striker
Height: 1.80m
Foot: Right

A prologue to Musa´s career

Musa started playing football on the streets of Serekunda and was a fan favourite among the community of the Kanifing Estates. His skills and technique impressed local scouts which led him to be the Hawks’s tallish man in the Gambian first division league.

The former Hawks striker is by far one of the best strikers the Gambian first division league has ever produced. This prompted Atalanta, a prominent Italian football club, to buy him from Hawks in 2016 at the young age of 17.

After impressive 19 goals in 14 games for the Atalanta youth side, Barrow made his first senior debut for Atalanta on 30 January 2018 (they lost 1:0 against Juventus in the Coppa Italia). He made his Serie A debut on 10 February 2018 in a game Atalanta drew against FC Crotone 1:1. On 18 September 2019, he made his Champions League debut against Dinamo Zagreb.

The Gambian Golden Boy

In his breakthrough season of 2018/2019, Musa Barrow scored 4 goals and gave 2 assists for Atalanta in the Europa League, including a hat trick against FK Sarajevo.

At some point during the 2018/2019 season, Kylian Mbappe and him were the youngest players, who have been directly involved in more than 6 goals in all Europe’s major league competitions.

Barrow was named in the 2018 Tuttosport 100 European Golden Boys List among players such as Mbappe, Rashford, and Sancho. He was also shortlisted for the CAF Young Best Players and nominated for the Golden Boy Award in 2019.

His brilliant performance caught eyes of Europe’s biggest guns such as Tottenham, Chelsea, and Borussia Dortmund. But Atalanta’s president, Antonio Percassi, insisted on keeping him for another season to allow him to mature into a more complete player.

The Move to Bologna

Due to lack of playing time, the Gambian goal wizard made a 13 million Euros loan move from Atalanta to Bologna in January 2020. He made his Bologna debut in a game against Hellas Verona, in which they drew 1:1.

Barrow scored 2 goals in front of the Bologna fans and gave an assist against mighty AS Roma as his new club secured a surprise 3:2 victory in Serie A on 7 February 2020.

Since his arrival, Barrow has proven to be an important player for Bologna playing 14 Serie A games, scoring 8 goals and 3 assists. As a regular starter for the Serie A team Barrow scored 5 goals in his last 6 outings with an overall impressive Serie A rating of 6.93 and 167 minutes per goal (according to FotMob).

Despite signing during the winter transfer window, so far Barrow is one of Bologna`s two leading goal scorers this season.

AfCON dreams and expectations

Can Musa Barrow’s ruthless goal scoring and high-profile lead the tiny West African Country to its first ever continental tournament? It is needless to say that the expectations among Gambian Football and Barrow fans are high.

The Gambia won its first ever away game against Angola 3:1 on 13 November 2019 in the AfCON qualifiers. Angola took the lead in early minutes (3rd min), while Assan Ceesay scored 2 quick goals in the 17th and 18th minute, before Sulayman Marreh sealed the victory in the 89th minute.

After 2 games The Gambia sits at the first position with 4 points, but only with a solitary superior goal difference to Gabon, who also has 4 points.

The Gambia will travel to take on DR Congo on Tuesday, 8 September 2020. If Gambia avoids a defeat in this game, it would put them in a solid position to qualify for the first time to the continent’s most prestigious tournament.

Musa Barrow has it all in him to help Gambia clinch qualification: he is quick, skilful, and most importantly strong in scoring goals. He will give balance to this young promising Gambian team with his ability to play across the front line. Gambia has always lacked proper goal scorers. Perhaps Barrow could replicate the same impressive goal scoring form as in the Serie A once AfCON qualifiers resume. After all, Barrow might be just what The Gambia have been needing to ensure its participation in the next African Cup of Nations.

Follow Musa Barrow’s Career on his social media channels:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musa_barrow99/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MusaBarrowFootballer

Resources:

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