Sport

Wunderkids: Building football’s most exciting young XI - week six: Kamaldeen Sulemana, winger

It's the stuff of manager fantasies: a blank check to assemble the world's most exciting young starting XI.

But, at least in fictional form, that's exactly what the new BBC Sounds podcast Wunderkids has to offer in its 11 episodes. You can listen to the first five episodes right now.

The Wunderkids team has come up with 11 players in collaboration with BBC Sport, and host Steve Crossman will be joined by specialists to debate the latest addition, with one new player being revealed each week.

Wunderkids: Searing pace and crazy skills
So far, Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez, Bayer Leverkusen winger Florian Wirtz, Ajax midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, Santos central defender Kaiky and Barcelona midfielder Gavi have been named in the line-up.

Kamaldeen Sulemana began his career in Ghana with the Right to Dream Academy before signing a contract with Danish top-flight club FC Nordsjaelland in February 2020, when he was 18 years old.

He earned his international debut later that year and was named Superliga Player of the Month in April 2021 during his time in Denmark, before joining Rennes in a £16.5 million transfer last summer.

Sulemana, a 20-year-old pacy and deft left-winger, scored after only 14 minutes of his competitive debut for Rennes in a 1-1 draw with Lens, and has since been a key member of a team that is vying for Champions League qualifying and has advanced to the Europa Conference League's last 16.

Football journalist Gary Al-Smith

"You'll like Kamaldeen if you like [Paris Saint-Germain and France star] Kylian Mbappe. If you haven't watched Kamaldeen, imagine Mbappe as a less refined version of Mbappe.

"He is raw, and Rennes was one of the finest places for him to go. He needs a year or two at Rennes, or a team slightly above them, to provide him the shelter he requires, similar to what Mbappe received at Monaco.

"You can expect roughly four hallmark moves from him, but you can't stop them.

"I first saw him in his Nordsjaelland days, not in his Right to Dream days, and he has the ball and accelerates within two seconds, and he's gone. If you're behind schedule,

The world is his oyster, and it's up to him to turn opportunities into opportunities to become a top-level player.


"With the coaching of someone like Pep Guardiola, players who showed potential but were not as skilled as Kamaldeen, such as [Manchester City and England winger] Raheem Sterling, have been able to play at the top."

 

"Kamaldeen can play for any team in the world, but I can't emphasize enough how crucial coaching will be in his early years." He can get into a top-three or top-four side in any of the top-five leagues in the world with strong coaching, but it all hinges on the coaching."

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