One of the shiniest stars heading into the Africa Cup Of Nations Tournament is Senegalese winger Keita Balde. Born in Spain Keita opted to represent the country where his parents hail from, Senegal. He is a product of the famed La Masia football academy owned by Barcelona. This is the same academy that produced Xavi, Iniesta, Lionel Messi, and Cesc Fabregas.
Keita, however, killed his own dream of making it to the Barcelona first team in 2010. The youngster played a nasty practical joke on one of his teammates. Keita placed an ice-cube on a teammates bed and as punishment, he was sent on loan to lowly ranked EU Cornella. He never returned to the Catalan club.
Blessed with blistering pace and with the skills to match, Keita can play in any position in a front 3 and is comfortable using both feet. He spent last season on loan to Inter Milan from French club AS Monaco. Coincidentally, Keita supports Inter Milan and his childhood idol Cameroon striker Samuel Etoo.
Kenyans will get to see a full glimpse of the winger when the Harambee Stars face off with Senegal in the last group C match for both teams at the Tournament. The winger was called up to the Senegal team that was present in the FIFA World Cup in Russia last year an has scored 4 goals for the National team.
Senegal has never won the Biennial Tournament in their history but with the likes of Keita and Sadio Mane, maybe this could be the year they finally live up to their potential. Do you think Senegal can win this year’s tournament? Let us know what you think in the comments section below..