It's September 2024, and Mamadou Sangare has been called up to the Mali squad for the very first time. As is normal in modern football, new players have to do an initiation song while stood on top of a chair. As Yves Bissouma introduced him onto the 'stage', the Mali captain asked Sangare what position he'd like to play in the team.
"Yours," Sangare told Bissouma, in a big, bold statement. "I loved that," Tom Saintfiet, the Mali manager at the time, tells Sky Sports. "He's an open, intelligent person - and confident.
He knows what he can do." Sangare did not end up taking Bissouma's national team spot - they played alongside each other in the Mali team - but the 24-year-old has taken his place as Mali's big talent in the Premier League. Brentford take on Tottenham Hotspur in the opening day of the season and Sangare will take to the field as the Bees' new record signing. Bissouma - released by Spurs this summer and still without a club - will not.
The Mali midfielder joining Brentford for £39m was deemed quite a coup for the west London club. Sangare was one of RC Lens' most important players as they finished second in Ligue 1 and won the French Cup. He was subsequently named in Ligue 1's Team of the Year, over Joao Neves and Fabian Ruiz.
The 24-year-old could have stayed and played Champions League football with the French side, but instead chose Brentford, when so many other top clubs were circling around him. "I remember a few months ago when I was talking to him, there were some different names already mentioned," Saintfiet recalls. "There were some top clubs in the English Premier League, the real giants." Sangare may be new to the average Premier League fan but those who followed Ligue 1 last season will know exactly why this is a promising signing.
The young midfielder effectively earned his status as the 'Elliot Anderson of French football'. He was in a league of his own in terms of ball-winning numbers and defensive statistics. But Sangare is far from simply a defensive midfielder.
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