SMILING for the cameras, Amad Diallo looked delighted this week as he signed a stunning new contract with Manchester United.
The dazzling prodigy – originally from Ivory Coast – has fulfilled the dream of so many African youngsters of a lucrative career at one of the richest clubs in the world.
It is a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for the gifted boy whose football journey began when he was traded to Europe as a 12-year-old.
His dramatic equalizer against arch-rivals Liverpool last Sunday follows his brilliantly executed volley to seal victory in the Manchester derby.
His story will now be one of fortune and, if he can help revive the slumbering giant United, glory too.
But for thousands of other African youth, the promises of trials at clubs like United, Real Madrid, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain, made by timid players claiming to be agents, are a sick scam.
These “agents” demand thousands of upfront fees that often amount to the life savings of a player's family.
The trials never end. The 'agents' disappear with the money and the teenagers are abandoned, putting them at risk of being sexually exploited or left destitute.
A few years ago a young lad turned up at reception at Tottenham's old White Hart Lane ground and said he had come from abroad for his trial at the club.
The young person was defrauded, there was no trial. Spurs' safeguard procedures came into effect and police and local authorities were contacted.
Charity Foot Solidaire estimates that as many as 15,000 teenage footballers are sent away from West African countries under false pretenses every year.
Former Watford midfielder Al Bangura has told how attempts were made to force him into the sex trade after he was trafficked to Britain.
Fleeing his native Sierra Leone after elders tried to make him follow in his late father's footsteps and become the leader of a voodoo cult, he left for neighboring Guinea at just 14 years old.
There, a Frenchman promised to help him realize his dream: to bring him to Great Britain to become a Premier League footballer.
Bangura revealed, “I didn't know he had another intention: to get me into the sex industry.”
On arrival in Britain he was taken to a property where he met men who had not come to discuss his football career.
“Suddenly I saw two or three men coming around me, trying to rape me and make me do things,” he recalls.
“Being young and small, I just started screaming. They probably thought I knew what I was there for. I obviously know what I came here for, I was here to play football.”
“I was just crying and screaming quite a bit and trying to get out – I was cold, I was crying, I was shaking, I didn't know what to do, I was everywhere.
“I went out. I didn't know where to start, I thought this was the end of my life.”
Bangura managed to escape and apply for asylum. He was spotted by a talent scout and ended up at Watford at the age of 16. He later received a work permit based on his football qualities.
The youngster played for the Hornets in the Premier League and has also played for Brighton, Blackpool, Forest Green Rovers and Coventry City.
Bangura, now 36, has worked with the Premier League and charities to raise awareness about human trafficking.
“I think there are a lot of vulnerable children in Africa who want to achieve what I have achieved in my life,” he said.
“There are a lot of kids who maybe don't even tell their parents, or their parents use their last money to get them to come here to play football and then they end up doing something else.
“It's important for me now that I've been through what I've been through in my life that I can say that I've been through that, I've survived, but what about the young children that are coming, will they survive ?
“Will they be able to handle that? So we really have to find a way to stop all that.
“It's quite emotional to talk about it now. I'm glad I'm over it, but it's sad for me.”
Crooked cops
Dr. Serhat Yilmaz – a lecturer in sports law at Loughborough University – describes the football trafficking of children as “a dark form of modern slavery”.
Rickety football academies have sprung up on dustbowl pitches across West Africa, where young people chase the dream of a lucrative contract with a top European team.
Criminal officers are robbing families of money after promising child players a trial period with a football giant.
Instead, many are abandoned or enslaved when they reach Britain and other leading football nations.
A researcher at Spain's National Police says the number of human trafficking cases there is “increasing sharply.”
One youngster, 17-year-old Tidiane, originally from Conakry, Guinea, believed his dream of playing professional football in Spain had come true.
His family was scouted while playing in his home country and raised money to pay a smuggler who promised a place at an academy in Barcelona.
“I was brought to Spain in March 2023 with documents stating that I had come on a school exchange trip, along with a number of other Guineans my age,” he revealed.
The young people were told they would be supported by an academy while continuing to attend school.
Tidiane added: “After 15 days we still hadn't started school or football training.
“They didn't tell us anything and after a month and a half we had to pay again, even though it was not planned.
“We got lost, so we fled late one night while everyone was sleeping.”
With no money and his identity card confiscated by his smuggler, Tidiane had to search for food and sleep in parks for five months.
In October 2023, he was rescued by the charity Caritas, which helped him restart his school.
The teenager said: “My story is far too common in Spain, many of us end up in the clutches of people with bad intentions who take advantage of the youth and their dreams.”
Article 19 of the international governing body FIFA, written in 2003, bans clubs from signing international players under the age of 18.
Since then, amid the battle for new young talent in football, agents, players and clubs have been trying to break this.
Article 19 contains a clause allowing a club to sign a player under the age of 18 if it can be proven that the child's family moved to that country for “reasons other than football”.
It means that job opportunities could suddenly open up for the child's parents in the city of the club interested in signing the youngster.
Diallo's journey
Manchester United star Amad Diallo managed to leave his native Ivory Coast and join an Italian club at the age of 12.
His football career – long before he arrived at Old Trafford – left him a pawn in the sometimes murky world of recruiting young African talent.
Born in Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast in 2002, his precocious talent suggested he had the ability to follow compatriots Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure and Gervinho to stardom in Europe.
In 2014, the youngster – then known as Amad Diallo Traore – joined minnows ASD Boca Barco, not far from Parma. His brother Hamed Junior Traore, also a gifted footballer, would join him.
The couple was able to start a new life in Italy under the family reunification system, as their parents were Italian residents.
Youth coach Denis Cerlini would later tell the BBC: “We didn't discover Amad, he just came to us. It was a great stroke of luck.”
The brilliant youngster and his brother were spotted by Giovanni Galli, the ex-AC Milan goalkeeper who played for Italy at the 1986 World Cup and worked for an Italian third division club.
Galli invited the brothers to a trial and recalled: “I quickly saw that they were just too good for us. Amad played with bigger boys and drove them crazy with his dribbling.”
Instead, Galli tipped Serie A club Atalanta, who signed Diallo in 2015. His brother signed for Empoli.
Then in 2017, agent and talent scout Giovanni Damiano Drago was arrested as part of Operation Baby Elephant, an investigation into the trafficking of footballers.
In a plea deal, Drago provided information to police about the immigration status of Diallo and other young players. The scout was given a suspended sentence of one year and ten months.
Five people were arrested, accused of smuggling Diallo, his brother and three other young footballers to Italy.
DNA testing by investigators showed that Diallo and his 'brother' – who is now on Bournemouth's books – were not related to the alleged parents. It was all an elaborate sham.
Incredibly, the scam led to Diallo – who was still a child when he was traded – being fined £42,000 by the Italian Football Association. Hamed Junior Traore was fined the same amount.
Diallo dropped his fake surname Traore on his 18th birthday.
Dreams and nightmares
In January 2021, Diallo joined Manchester United from Atalanta for £18.7 million. He has been described as the “jewel in the crown” of new manager Ruben Amorim's team.
In West Africa, thousands of young footballers will admire the progress of the now 22-year-old and dream of their own lucrative careers.
Some, desperate for the riches that European football has to offer, are taking matters into their own hands.
On the migration routes along the Mediterranean coast and in the camps of Calais and Dunkirk, I have met many ambitious young footballers trying to reach Britain on a shaky boat.
Dr. Ini-Obong Nkang, 32, author of the book Football Trafficking: A Legal Analysis of the Trade of African Minors – says the key to preventing human trafficking is encouraging African competitions.
Dr. Nkang told The Sun: “If you dig deep, you will find that South African players are not traded because South Africa has the most developed league on the continent.
“They can see for themselves: 'Okay, if I stay here and go to an academy, I can still build a future for myself.'
“In West Africa, where the majority of traded players come from, the competitions are not up to standard. That has to change.”
Diallo's goals against Liverpool and Manchester City earned him the toast of Old Trafford.
For other African youth who dream of the riches and glory of football, their journey to Europe at the hands of human traffickers brings only misery.
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