Darko Gyabi liked to play for Millwall.
As a boy from southeastern London, there was nothing better than playing football for his local club and, crucial, with his friends.
He was clearly on the right track with the lions, so much so much that Manchester City signed him for their academy when he was 14 in November 2018. The deal for Gyabi – described as “an exceptional young player” by Millwall – legend Neil Harris – was Notification that it may be worth more than £ 1 million.
“For probably the first week, only because of the excitement of playing, it didn't really touch me,” he admits in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
“But the first few months were difficult because I left home, away from my family and at another school with different people.
'I was in excavations with Jamie [Gittens] That I knew to play against him and there was Luke Mette who also comes from London. There were already Micah Hamilton and a few other players I already knew and they really helped me to establish.
“It made me more independent in terms of waking up and to be on time for training or to get the school bus. Instead of being in my own shell, I had to be more expressive and ask for things or when I wanted to do something through My excavations parents, and also openly talking to them. “
“In terms of football it was easy. I played with some of the best players in the country week, week out and I also played against some of the best players.
“It was really, really good for me at that age to leave home and learn the football game, but also just an adult as a young person.”
Gyabi did not earn a call-up for the first team in City during his stay of three and a half years, but he did enter the EFL trophy for the U21s; Against Doncaster in September 2021, he was in the same team as Liam Delap from Ipswich, Samuel Edozie and Oscar Bobb from Anderhecht, with Rico Lewis on the couch.
Nevertheless, he learned firsthand how to play 'the Stadsweg'.
“It was the same as the first team in terms of the [style of] football and the ideas behind it, so just try to keep the ball, try to attack goals and score and create opportunities, but also difficult to play in terms of winning the ball and being defensively solid – all those things That you see from Manchester the first team of the city.
“There was also an element of having the individual ability to do what you can do if you have the ball. Play, but also have the opportunity to change a game yourself.
“There were a few days when there were a certain amount of U23 players who would train with the first team to help them with figures, so that is when you get the chance to see the level.
“These guys play at the highest level of football in the Premier League and the Champions League, so a young player to be in the neighborhood was really good.
“The one who noticed me was how modest De Bruyne was, how sober he was. He would encourage the younger players. I played against him in training and I was even more surprised how good he was; he was so sharp, so for it Game and everything he did, he was rarely made mistakes.
Gyabi left Manchester City for Leeds in July 2022, looking for more opportunities on the first team. And four months after his arrival, he made his Premier League debut – against Manchester City, of all possible opponents.
But 2022/23 was a season of disturbance in Elland; Jesse Marsch, Michael Skubala, Javi Gracia and Sam Allardyce every time spent the lead, but no one could send them away from final relegation.
Gyabi only played three times in all competitions for the first team, although he was a fixture for the U21s in the Premier League 2.
“That was my first right season in the men's competition and there was a lot of chaos in terms of the managers,” he says.
“It was difficult because certain days that I was with the first team, but when another manager comes in, they have to concentrate on the older players of the first team and the more established players, so sometimes you would be with the U21s and then Maybe as a body you are needed for the first team.
“It was not easy because there was a lot of change, but it helped me to realize how the men's game is and what happens in the professional world. There was a bit of chaos, but I don't think it was something I was not learned from . “
Gyabi was involved in the current Leeds boss Daniel's first five championship MatchDay Squads in 2023/24, but only played one minute of the 4-3 victory in Ipswich on August 26, 2023.
It was not until January 2024 that he would taste the first team of football again, when Plymouth drew him for a loan deal until the end of the season, and there was an unexpected reunion with Ian Foster – who had brought him to the U20 World Cup in 2023 – six days before the arrival of Gyabi.
For the first time, the midfielder was entrusted with a starting spot in a senior team and played the entire five games, because Plymouth contributed valuable eight points to their survival distance.
Frustrating, he only succeeded in five gigs before his season was limited by a groin injury.
“I was so disappointed, I'm not going to lie,” he says. “From the first five games to the last five games I played, I think there was a gradual improvement for me and I adapted to the games, at the pace, the competition.
“I was disappointed because I wanted to stand on the field and learned as much as possible as I could, try to improve myself. It was annoying because I had started to pick up rhythm.
“I wanted to play because of the pain, but I was advised that I could make it much worse than what it was if I did. If I had played, I would probably not have been able to play as much as I am now.
A feeling that unfinished things gyabi brought back to Home Park in July – and Wayne Rooney had been named a little more than a month earlier, was certainly an extra draw.
'When he was and Pete [Shuttleworth] In the beginning I would go back, watch my games with him and he was so well informed about the position in which I played as a midfielder because he dropped a bit deeper towards the end of his career.
“He would tell me little things to pay attention to games and small things to put in the back of my mind in a game. He just always wanted more from me and that was good because I always wanted to give him that good.
“He was so well informed and in the training he would stand next to me and tell me:” This is what you can do to influence the game more “, or” you have to be here to do this. “He helped improve my game. “
Gyabi is satisfied with his progression, but accepts that he is still in the middle of an important learning and development phase. After all, this is his first full season as a regular in senior football.
“At the start of the season I was still undergoing an operation to solve an infection with the operation I had in the summer,” he says. “So I was not 100 percent suitable for the Sheffield Wednesday match [on the first day of the season] But I wanted to be there, wanted to help the team. From there I have built the momentum.
“I think I am very well advanced in terms of playing games, learning more, mature, having to speak more in the team, giving ideas about what I think we can do together as a team, and then just hard Working on and next to the field to try to make sure that I am available to help the team.
“Then learn about the men's game and how to deal with certain situations in the game when we win or when we play away and there is a lot of pressure and we have to defend those little things.
“Also make sure that I also influence the game myself, because it will not be every game where I play the best, but make sure that I always work hard. I always try to help the man next to me and make sure that When it is time for me to do it well, I make sure that I also maximize it. “
He has ruined his head, which clearly played a role in the fact that his talents have been recognized by England. After Gyabi played for the U15s, U16S, U18S, U19S and U20S, Gyabi made his U21 debut in November 2024 in a 0-0 draw against Spain.
“It is always good if you are selected for your country. It was really important for me to just stay grounded, but I was super, super happy,” he admits.
“I started playing for England when I was U15 and by going to the U21s by the age groups, is something I am proud of. It's a good sign that I make progress.
“Now I just want to keep my head down and keep working, first of all, here with Plymouth, but also when I leave England, make sure that I make the best of it. It is a brilliant platform for me what I can do doing. “
That monumental step for the senior team is on its radar.
“That is the goal. I think it is possible because in the last few camps you saw players who entered – players with whom Carsley also worked at U21s – get their chance to play. It can only be seen for the players in The lower -E groups that it is possible.
“I feel that we have a generation of players in England where there are many good players. If I can be someone in it, I would be more than happy with that.”
That must remain as a dream for the time being.
He and his teammates from Plymouth have a huge challenge in the short term-to keep the club in the championship.
When Rooney was fired on New Year's Eve, the pilgrims were a rock base of the table, four points of safety and without a victory in nine.
Now former Cercle Brugge -Baas Miron Muslic – who went viral for his exciting welcome speech – is the management. He has to win one of his first four league games and the gap to safety has grown to seven points in the meantime, but taking points from both Oxford and Sunderland is no easy task.
Yet Gyabi is not complacent.
“He has a clear way, he wants us to play in and out and it is for us to adapt to it and ensure that we fight for him. He is very, very clear with how he speaks and how he We lead and what he wants us to do with more time.
“But we know that we have to start winning games and we have to play even better than we have been, certainly.
“They are 17 games, but we can't just keep saying that there are still 17 games left and we have time. We have to start collecting the results we want and go in the right direction.
What is important is that we stay together on the inside and outside the club because unity can only help us in this situation. It can't just be one person who wants to do it all himself, because that would not be possible.
“If we are all together, if we all fight and if we all have the same goal and desire, I believe 100 percent that we can definitely let something happen.”
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