“Players here they have a gift from god, but nobody wants to use it.”
Abdulla Yusuf didn’t mince his words when asked why more players from the Gulf don’t make the move to Europe.
The Bahraini striker, who moved to Czech champions Slavia Prague in the European summer, is one of a few small number of players from the Gulf to try their luck in Europe.
It’s long been a frustration that someone with the talent of Omar Abdulrahman, or the goal scoring record of Ali Mabkhout, hasn’t opted for the challenge of making it in Europe.
For Yusuf, their reluctance to leave is tantamount to cowardice. Choosing to take the easy life and big cash on offer at home rather than take themselves out of their comfort zone for a crack in Europe.
“We (players in the Gulf) have talent, we have everything,” he explained. “But it’s just about the mentality, 100 percent about the mentality.
“Many players also in my country, they have the chance to come here, but their mentality is too small.
“They think they have everything there, their family, good money. This is the problem, no one wants to follow their dream. Nothing can be easy.”
The 26-year-old from Manama, grew up dreaming of playing in Europe and in his mind, regardless of what you achieve in your career, it means nothing if you haven’t played in Europe.
“Okay, you can do some good things in your league or your country, but nobody (around the world) knows you,” he exclaimed.
“You live and die in the same place. But you must follow your dream, let the world know you and in Europe it is different. In my opinion the real football is here.”
The peak for any modern footballer is the UEFA Champions League. Europe’s continental showpiece has seemingly overtaken the FIFA World Cup as the pinnacle of the game, and with his move from Bohemians 1905 to Slavia in the off-season, Yusuf put himself in a position to become the first Bahraini to appear in arguably the best football competition on the planet.
“When I was young it was a dream to play in Europe, and then to go to the Champions League,” the told The Asian Game podcast in July.
“This is my goal, I will be the first player from Middle East, from Gulf countries, playing in the Champions League. This is a big thing for me and for my country, for my family.”
It’s a goal he achieved when he came on for the final ten minutes in Slavia’s 1-1 draw with Inter Milan at the San Siro on 18 September.
The Pride of Bahrain
It’s appropriate that Slavia play in red and white, the same colours as Bahrain, as Yusuf says when he pulls on the Slavia jersey he’s not just representing himself, he’s representing all 1.5 million Bahrainis.
“I am here to represent my country first, and then I represent my family and my name,” Yusuf explained.
“I want my country to be proud of me. Because in Asia, we are OK in Asia, everyone knows us, but in Europe nobody knows us. I must prove my country’s name here in Europe, to let Europe know there are good players in Bahrain or in Middle East.
“When I came here after one year at Bohemians, still nobody knows Bahrain. Maybe they know Saudi, or some big country in Asia, but nobody knows Bahrain because we are a small country. I must prove my country and show them that I am good.”
The deal to bring Yusuf to Bohemians all happened in a matter of days, giving him little time to prepare for what lie ahead.
“I was with the national team camp in the Czech Republic for two weeks, with the ex-coach of ours, Miroslav Soukup,” he explained.
“We came for two weeks and played a few games here, and I scored many goals and did well, and before I flew back home and I got a call from an agent, so I sat with him and the coach, and he told me ‘we have some offers for you if you want to play here.’
“And he wanted me to sign in three days, so I made my decision within three days. I flew home for two days and then flew back to Prague. It was so fast.”
It was a big step up for a player from largely semi-professsional Bahrain to a fully professional setup in the Czech Republic, and it’s one Yusuf admitted he struggled with initially.
“It was so hard for me the first few months in Prague,” said the Bahrani international.
“Everything was different and the mentality, how I trained, when I wake up – everything was different to the Middle East. In the Middle East all my life we had training at 4pm, 5pm, 6pm, never we had training in the morning because of the weather. It’s too hot.
Embed from Getty Images“Our league (in Bahrain) is not 100 percent professional, many players are working and playing, (so) it was hard for me to jump to a professional league. But I followed the players, I followed what the trainers told me, the staff, my agent and after two months I loved everything, and now I am 100 percent like them and now I try to be better than them.”
Given his initial struggles, his performances on the park were impressive, with five goals in 24 appearances, which was enough to catch the attention of the Czech Republic’s biggest club.
“After four months I signed with Slavia, but I completed the season with Bohemians,” he said.
“This is my goal, to prove myself. Don’t stay in the same level.”
Speaking with Yusuf you sense a player that is restless, eager to move on to the next challenge, not wanting to waste one second of his career. While he is committed to Slavia for the time being, he already has aspirations of moving on to bigger and better things.
“Slavia is a big team in the Czech Republic, but sure there are bigger leagues,” he said.
“Now I am in the first team in the Czech Republic, but I want to jump to a a better league, a stronger league. But it depends on my work and how I do on the field and in training. So we’ll see, anything can happen.
“Football life is too short, if you don’t do it now you’ll never do it. This is my time. When I finish my career I don’t want to sit with my head in my hands saying ‘why didn’t you do this?’, I want to do everything now.”
Photo: Slavia Praha
Listen to our interview with Abdulla Yusuf from Episode 33 of The Asian Game podcast.
