Latest news with #JumaBah
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
OGC Nice sign Manchester City centre-back Juma Bah on loan
OGC Nice have confirmed that Juma Bah (19) has joined the Riviera club on loan from Manchester City. Les Aiglons overtook Olympique Lyonnais for the Sierra Leone international, with the possibility of playing in the UEFA Champions League an enticing factor. Franck Haise's Nice qualified for the Champions League third qualifying round courtesy of their fourth-place finish in Ligue 1. Bah is already accustomed to Ligue 1 football. The 19-year-old centre-back spent the second half of the past season on loan at RC Lens, as part of Manchester City's deal for Artois centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov. Advertisement Nice were in the market for a centre-back, considering they need to prepare for life without veteran skipper Dante and the fact that Youssouf Ndayishimiye and Mohamed Abdelmonem are recovering from serious knee injuries. Bah is the second player to join Nice this summer after Gabin Bernardeau. GFFN | Bastien Cheval
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Manchester City defender makes decision on season-long Ligue 1 loan move
Juma Bah is expected to return to France and move to OGC Nice on loan for the 2025-26 campaign in the coming months, as per a new report. The Sierra Leonean teenager joined Manchester City in January and was loaned out to RC Lens for the second half of the recent season, making 10 appearances for the French outfit before the end of his stint. Advertisement Bah is on a long-term contract at the Etihad Stadium and with Pep Guardiola heavily stocked in central defence, it remains unlikely that the 19-year-old will get a look into the first-team anytime soon. A loan move to progress his development and gain first-team football experience seems the best option for the centre-half, who has also attracted interest from Olympique Lyonnais in recent weeks. City signed Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in January to bolster their defensive options amidst a personnel crisis in the position, with Pep Guardiola needing urgent cover midway through his most difficult season as a manager. Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and John Stones returned to fitness in the closing weeks of the Premier League campaign, with the former two getting some minutes but Stones still recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in February. Advertisement Stones has been linked with a possible departure this summer as Manchester City look to trim their squad for the new campaign, but the 31-year-old has indicated he wants to stay as he enters the final 12 months of his contract. Ruben Dias and Josko Gvardiol formed an excellent pairing in central defence in the business end of the season, with Gvardiol moving to his preferred centre-half position following the emergence of academy graduate Nico O'Reilly. L'Equipe are reporting that Manchester City and OGC Nice are closing in on agreeing a season-long loan for Bah, who is set to return to France after a promising six months or so with RC Lens last term. The opportunity to play in the UEFA Champions League next season is an obvious attraction for Bah, who would be hoping that Nice can secure qualification to the group-stage phase from their qualifying games after a fourth-place Ligue 1 finish last season. Advertisement Manchester City have added significant firepower to their ranks already this summer, signing the quartet of Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli, Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki in the first 10 days of June – in time for the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup. The 2023 treble winners are still expected to return to the market as they search for a new right-back, with Kyle Walker set to leave the club after returning from loan at AC Milan as he enters the last year of his contract.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Lyon to secure Manchester City signing after attempts to loan FOUR other of Pep Guardiola's stars
Lyon to secure Manchester City signing after attempts to loan FOUR other of Pep Guardiola's stars Juma Bah is expected to make a decision on his next temporary club for the upcoming season following conversations with his entourage and Manchester City. When City officials forked out a €6 million fee to acquire the young defender from Spanish outfit Real Valladolid, they did so without a spot in their first-team squad for the 19-year-old, given the arrivals of Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis in the same winter transfer window. Advertisement Club bosses swiftly arranged a loan deal with RC Lens where Bah would go on to make 10 appearances including eight starts for the French side. However, as the Sierra Leonean youngster makes his way back to the Etihad Stadium, he will be sent back out on loan. There has been several weeks and months of uncertainty as to where the teenage prospect could shine during the forthcoming season, with some reports tipping a move back to Spain with Girona, or perhaps elsewhere in English football. However, now there is an understanding from some quarters that French giants Olympique Lyonnais – who sold Rayan Cherki to Manchester City this month – have emerged as the front runner for Juma Bah's next loan. As reported by French newspaper L'Equipe, a loan for the Sierra Leone international was something discussed between the two sides during the negotiations for Cherki, who departed the Groupama Stadium for the Etihad ahead of the FIFA Club World Cup. Advertisement Although, a move for the 19-year-old has seemingly only followed interest in a number of other names at Manchester City, with Lyon exploring the idea and possibility of securing the likes of James McAtee or Claudio Echeverri on temporary agreements. Furthermore, the report claims that such a duo was preceded by tentative interested in the likes of Oscar Bobb and Abdukodir Khusanov, with Manchester City not interested in allowing any of the quartet to depart. While Lyon appear to be in the lead for landing the Sierra Leonean defender from Manchester City, it has also been claimed that fellow French outfit OGC Nice are another candidate to land the 19-year-old, with a final decision expected in the coming days. It remains to be seen what other names could follow Juma Bah out of Manchester City in the coming weeks, with speculation growing over Kyle Walker and his future, as well as Ilkay Gundogan amid interest from Turkey.
BBC News
10-03-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
From bakery boy to Man City - the swift rise of Juma Bah
Juma Bah used to spend his spare time helping out at his father's bakery in Sierra Leone, but he could soon be playing for Pep Guardiola at Manchester City after a rapid footballing his career on pitches that were often dusty or muddy in his West African homeland, just nine months ago the teenager was playing domestic league games on artificial after impressing over a dozen La Liga outings for Real Valladolid in the first half of this season, the centre-back signed for the 10-time English champions in January."It would be a dream for me to play with these great players at Manchester City," Bah told BBC Sport Africa."I usually play with them on PlayStation. Playing with them in real life will be amazing."I'm looking forward to go there and learn, and to have the best coach in the world. My aim is to win trophies."Bah, who turns 19 next month, speaks with humility as he repeatedly stresses the need to train hard and improve his game in order to reach the top will certainly have to be patient before he pulls on a blue youngster was sent out on loan to Lens immediately after joining City and helped his new team-mates to an impressive 1-0 win in Marseille on Saturday as he made his first start following two brief substitute appearances for the French Ligue 1 Sierra Leone boss Mohamed Kallon, who had stints at Inter Milan and Monaco as a player, has hailed the defender as a "great prospect"."I knew something big was going to happen and he was just waiting for his opportunity," Kallon added."He can succeed in Europe. Manchester City bought him because they see something in him. We can see that he has potential to grow." Humble beginnings Bah grew up in the Congo Market neighbourhood of Freetown, Sierra Leone's while he was making his first steps in football, he would carry firewood to his father Abdul Karim's bakery and also assist his mother Umu before going to training."At 4am I carried wood, because my father usually bakes early in the morning," Bah explained."I would say he has the best bread in the world. I used to carry the bread to people's shops."My mum used to sell chicken balls on the street. I would usually help pound the meat and after she took it to sell to people. I'm really happy to help my family."Bah began playing barefoot in street games and joined AIK Freetong, a third-tier side, from his boyhood club Giant Academy in April 10 months later, before even turning 16, the defender had moved up to the Sierra Leone Premier established himself as a key player during a loan spell with Freetonians SLIFA, and was named the team's captain in his second season at the almost 6ft 4in tall, European scouts had taken notice of his promise and, following a trial at AIK in Sweden, Bah joined Valladolid on loan last August. An emotional La Liga debut After featuring in two under-19 matches and one game for Valladolid's second team - who play in the Spanish fourth tier - Bah was swiftly promoted to the senior made his La Liga debut as a starter at home against Real Sociedad last September."It was amazing, the best day for me," Bah recalled of the goalless draw."I was so emotional in the dressing room and then the board came up [saying] I was going to start."When I went out I saw a lot of people in the stadium. I'd never seen this crowd before."Just over 21,000 people were in attendance, while back home Bah's mother Umu was filmed beaming with joy alongside other family members who had gathered to watch his debut on television."After the game, I saw the video and I was in tears," Bah said."I was like 'Oh my God' and showed my friends."I would always tell my mum that one day I was going to make her proud. Her watching me on the TV when I play was a blessing." City move and contract row Bah became a regular in the side and, in early January, Valladolid exercised an option to sign him permanently, adding a release clause of 6m euros ($6.5m, £5m) in what was a youth a few weeks later Bah suddenly terminated his deal, paying his buy-out fee, and subsequently joined Manchester said the move caused "caused great disappointment and indignation", with the Spanish club threatening legal action after accusing the reigning Premier League champions of encouraging the teenager to break his Bah says he took the decision without external advice, claiming he was the lowest-paid player in the senior squad."I am the one who did that to terminate my contract," he said."They (Valladolid) didn't care about me. They didn't speak to my agent about giving me a new contract."They didn't even call me to speak. They didn't want me to leave because there were a lot of clubs that came to sign me." Leone Stars calling For the time being Bah is trying to cement his place in the Lens side, while also taking French lessons."The environment is different," he revealed."It will take me a bit of time. Everyone in the team likes me and the players are friendly."The next major step for Bah would be making his international debut, and Leone Stars boss Kallon has confirmed the defender is part of his plans ahead of 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers this month."Technically, he's a really good player," Kallon said."He can secure and protect the ball, and [he has] a good passing range. He can duel very well, dribble in tight spaces and can construct the game."That's the main qualities of a central defender."Although his parents have not yet travelled to Europe to watch him in action, Bah remains in regular contact."I usually speak to them on the phone every day," he said."That motivates me. Especially my mum. When I speak to her, I remember where I came from."This journey all these months was a blessing."
New York Times
28-01-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Man City signing Juma Bah – the Sierra Leone teenager who paid his own €6m release clause in Spain
Within the space of six months, 18-year-old centre-back Juma Bah has gone from playing football in his homeland of Sierra Leone to paying his own €6million release clause in order to unilaterally break his contract with a club in Spain's La Liga and days later join Premier League champions Manchester City. Advertisement And then immediately get sent on loan to Lens, the French club who just sold a 20-year-old centre-back to City for an initial €40million, for the rest of the season. Nice and simple then. It has been a fraught seven days for Bah's previous club Real Valladolid, as we will go into in more detail below. They only made his signing permanent on January 1 having previously had him on loan, and were counting on him as they battle against relegation from Spain's top flight. If Bah was to leave this month, Valladolid were determined to get more than €6million for him, but to do that they needed him to sign a new contract first (and increase his release clause). The club claim there was a verbal agreement in place since September, shortly after his loan began. Bah had not been seen by Valladolid since last Tuesday (January 21), which was when City first expressed their interest and also the day he paid up his own release clause with the Spanish football federation (RFEF). Valladolid subsequently released a punchy statement accusing City of 'appearing to advise' Bah to 'breach his contract' with them. City remained quiet. At the weekend, when a Bah-less Valladolid were beaten 3-0 at home by Real Madrid, there were protests directed towards their owner, the former Real Madrid and Brazil striker Ronaldo, about his running of the club. Then on Monday, at 5pm UK time, City announced on their website that they had signed Bah and he was off on loan to Ligue 1 side Lens. Here's a run-through of Bah's background, his time at Valladolid and the controversy of the past seven days… Bah's rise to La Liga was rapid — until last summer, he was playing at club level in his native Sierra Leone. Born in Freetown, the capital of the west African country, he told Valladolid's in-house media he would help his father with his work at a bakery by waking at 4am to collect firewood, and that he started out playing football barefoot. He came through the Freetown Giant Academy, before moving to AIK Freetong in 2021-22 and then spending two seasons on loan at top-flight Freetonians SLIFA. Advertisement As Bah said in a YouTube interview with Valladolid, their scouting co-ordinator Pachu Martinez went to see him play a league game in Sierra Leone and 'believed' in him. Bah joined the Spanish club on loan in August, moving into their academy facilities and making one appearance for their reserve team in a fourth-tier game the following month. Six days later, he was unexpectedly called up to the senior side to make his La Liga debut against Real Sociedad, with Valladolid short of options in defence due to injuries. He became the first player from Sierra Leone to appear in the Spanish top flight and went on to play 11 more times in La Liga. 'It's crazy,' the quiet, introverted teenager told the club's YouTube channel. 'I started playing from the streets. 'It was really stressful not having boots to play (when he was younger), but I'm really happy now I'm here… I didn't expect that I would be in La Liga, to play yesterday (against Real Sociedad). I don't know how I should express my feelings, I was so emotional yesterday. It was amazing — the best feeling ever.' Bah joined Valladolid in August from AIK Freetong on a 12-month loan, with an option to buy for €150,000. His salary at the time was around €2,000 a month, in line with others in their youth setup. If players progress at the club, their salary and release clauses increase. By September, Valladolid had already decided to make Bah's move permanent, and the club say an agreement to do so, which included improved terms for the player, was approved by all parties by the middle of that month. At this point, Bah had been training with and playing for their second team. He faced Real Sociedad in his first-team debut on September 21. He was offered a new contract by the club but that could not be effective until January because that was the earliest point Valladolid could make his loan permanent. With just 864 minutes of La Liga football to his name, and having been thrown straight into the division's leakiest back line at the age of 18, it's difficult to come away with too many concrete conclusions on Bah's ability — the levels of his individual performances have often been dictated by the instability across the Valladolid defence as a whole. Some things, however, are immediately obvious. Advertisement At 6ft 4in (195cm), he is dominant in the air. His aerial duel success rate of 70.5 per cent is eighth-best among La Liga players with more than 25 duels contested, while only two players across Europe's top five domestic leagues can better his rate of four headed clearances per game. His biggest test came in November away against Getafe, where he won seven of his 11 aerial contests with some of the division's most physical battlers, coming away with a burgeoning reputation very much intact. The battle-hardened Bah also possesses a surprising turn of pace for a defender so commanding. He is comfortable tracking tricky wingers down the channel, making him an intriguing option to play on the outside of a back three as well as in the central duo of a defensive four. On the ball, there has not been too much opportunity to see Bah's distribution; Valladolid are not La Liga's most direct side, but around 18 per cent of their passes from the defensive third this season have been long, showing their desire to avoid a battle for possession if they can help it. Bah has stepped up and fizzed a few nice passes through the lines, but he understandably tends to play things safe with his side in the relegation picture. Before the developments over the past week, Valladolid fans had been excited by Bah — not just in terms of seeing a highly rated young player in action and what role he might play in helping them try to avoid the drop, but also in terms of how much money he could bring in for Valladolid when he did leave for a bigger club. Valladolid made a massive profit on now Ghana international centre-back Mohammed Salisu when he moved to Southampton of the Premier League for €12.85million in 2020, after a little under three years in Spain. Salisu, like Bah, had initially joined Valladolid's youth setup. On January 1, Valladolid exercised their option to buy Bah, and the plan was for both his salary and release-clause value to increase. In the youth setup, his release clause was set at €6million, in the second team it would be €12m, and in the first team to €30m. But despite Bah moving permanently to Valladolid this month, he and his agent did not accept the terms proposed in September, which has meant that, as this winter transfer window continued, his release clause remained at €6million. Advertisement Practically every player in La Liga has a release clause — a fee which, if offered by another club, allows the player to speak to them with a view to sealing a transfer. This is because Spain's employment law gives players the right to — in theory — break their contract at any time to join a new team. The player's previous club would be due a fee, but this would only be determined through a lengthy process in court. Inserting a release clause in a player's contract prevents that. Instead of one club handing over the money to the other, however, in Spain paying the release clause involves the player — or a legal representative acting on their behalf — receiving the money from the interested team and delivering it to La Liga's central offices in Madrid. La Liga then distributes the money. (Or, in Bah's case, it was the Spanish FA who received and distributed the money). After the 18-year-old made his debut for their first team in September, Valladolid say his agent began changing their position and insisting that Bah would not sign the new agreement. The Athletic has contacted Bah's agent for comment. This month, at the request of the player, Valladolid began negotiating with Turkish side Fenerbahce and clubs in Italy over the transfer of Bah. Fenerbahce were understood to be willing to pay €8.5million, obviously above the €6m release clause in his youth contract, but with the caveat that he would stay at Valladolid for the remainder of 2024-25 to help their fight against relegation. Valladolid say they were contacted by Manchester City last Tuesday, with the Premier League side wanting to open negotiations over Bah. On the same day, they were informed by the player's agent that Bah's contract was terminated after his release clause had been paid and that he was leaving. The player went to Valladolid's training ground, collected his boots and left again. He did not turn up for training the following day (Wednesday) and has never been back. Also that Wednesday, Valladolid called the RFEF to check the agent's claims and were told that €6million had been deposited, meeting the clause in Bah's contract. Advertisement Later in the day, Valladolid released a statement accusing City of 'appearing to advise' Bah to 'breach his contract' with them. The Spanish club said it had been put 'in a defenceless position, after having recently rejected financial offers of a higher amount'. There was no comment from City on the statement and comments made by Valladolid, presumably waiting for the issue to blow over. Then on Monday afternoon, City posted a four-sentence statement on their website announcing the signing of Bah, and his immediate loan to Lens. De la 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑢 𝐿𝑖𝑜𝑛 🇸🇱 aux 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑙𝑠 artésiens ⛏️ Joueur athlétique et complet, Juma Bah vient compléter l'effectif sang et or. Le prometteur défenseur sierra-léonais rallie l'Artois dans le cadre d'un prêt jusqu'en juin 2025. ✍️#FiersDEtreLensois — Racing Club de Lens (@RCLens) January 27, 2025 They said he had 'completed his registration' with the club after 'a spell with Real Valladolid'. Valladolid declined to comment on City's announcement. Considering he is more of a 'CFG (City Football Group) signing', meaning he is a promising player that can be an asset to any club in the CFG stable now or in the future, and in theory holds significant resale value, City will want to minimise their risk (ie, the outlay) as much as possible, in case Bah does not reach his potential or the move does not work out other reasons. Bah was enthused by the idea of joining City — the group, which includes 13 teams worldwide from the United States to Japan, Brazil and Australia — and will receive good money for doing so. Although parent club City are clearly rebuilding their squad, having also signed two other young centre-backs and forward Omar Marmoush this month, Bah will not be an immediate first-team reinforcement at the Etihad Stadium. Advertisement Essentially, he is another signing for CFG, and the vast majority of those never actually play for Manchester City. He has been loaned to Lens for the second half of 2024-25, following their sale of 20-year-old fellow centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov to City (who has gone straight into manager Pep Guardiola's senior squad), and that may be extended to next season too. Well, Bah has joined a team who are seventh of the 18 teams in France's top tier (a position that was enough last season for European qualification), while Valladolid are bottom of the Spanish equivalent, six points off safety. Valladolid are consulting their legal team before deciding what, if anything, they can do about Bah's contract termination and subsequent move to City. (Additional contributors: Tomas Hill Lopez-Menchero, Sam Lee, Thom Harris)
