Another Ghanaian football success story is brewing in southwest Modena, where Joseph Kwabena Yeboah has braved the storm of a wipeout at Parma to get his career back on track at Sassuolo.
At 16, young Yeboah, who joined his parents in Italy barely three years ago has his professional path well spelt out for him just months after being shattered with a directive from officials of Parma of a clear-out.
The lateral defender had joined the Parma youth team with the ambitions of getting promoted to join fellow Ghanaian compatriot Afriyie Acquah in the first team.
But then Parma run into financial difficulties, seeing them eventually file for bankruptcy and got relegated to Italy’s fourth tier as punishment.
All their first team players including Afriyie Acquah left the club to secure their future and so did most of the youth team members following a club-wide notice giving every player the permission to leave.
An attempt to join Torino proved abortive due to complications in the terms of his retention.
Luckily for Joseph Yeboah, the then-administrative head at Parma’s youth side, Francesco Palmieri was handed a similar job at Sassuolo recalled some of the great talents at Parma and decided to put through a call.
With his stalled registration now completed, making him a fully-fledged player of Sassuolo, Yeboah who was born in Accra is happy to have his life in football back on track.
“When we were told the situation at Parma, most of us thought ‘oh no’ this is not happening,” Yeboah recalled in an exclusive interview with GHANAsoccernet.com.
“It was a sad period for us. We had to leave and I didn’t know what to do.
“But then God was watching I guess and now we are here.”
With the giving of a second chance, the young defender wants to give his all to ensure all his wild dreams about making it big in the game is realized.
First though, he must work hard to catch the eyes of Sassuolo officials to win him a professional contract when he turns 18 in two years time.
“It [winning a professional contract] depends on my performance,” he said.
“I hope to impress officials here so that when the time comes I will be able to win a contract and then play in the first team.
“I really believe in myself and I know I can make it in football if everything goes well.”
Inspired by some of the great Ghanaian performers in Serie-A such as Mohammed Gargo, Stephen Appiah, Kwadwo Asamoah and Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, the youngster believes the environment is rife for him to become another success story.
“Italy is a good place for Ghanaian players to develop even though you have to work extra hard for it,” Yeboah continued.
“Italians prefer to give opportunities first to their countrymen so as a foreigner, you have to work really hard to win over their confidence and respect and that is what I intend to do.”