It looked like just a tactical shot, one to fill a box. But something has changed, on the field and off. In just a few days he has taken it all: confidence, space, and even a bit of poetry. The figure makes one laugh, but the player is tremendously serious
Atalanta, gioiello Sulemana: la cifra pagata vi farà ridere (LaPresse) – serieanews.com
There and then it looked like one of those good goals to set off an emotional wave. Nice, heavy, on an evening when everything weighed more than usual. But in Bergamo, by now, one is no longer satisfied with sensations: one seeks confirmations. And when those come, just like that, a few days later, with another pearl even more beautiful than the first, then the discourse changes. It changes the way of looking at a player. And, above all, it changes the way of telling a story.
To find the origin of this shot it was necessary to go back to a few years ago, when Tony D’Amico scouted him in Ghana and decided to bring him to Italy, to Verona. He played barefoot, they say. Maybe it’s legend, but it gives a good idea. Arriving as a free agent, Sulemana went through the Primavera ranks, never asking for shortcuts. Then Serie A, Cagliari, and finally Atalanta. A path without sequins, without hype, but with a very clear common thread: the confidence to work.
Ibrahim Sulemana was one of those names that go almost unnoticed when announced. Low profile, little media exposure, resume made up of work and benches. Gasperini is not one to give away minutes. And Sulemana knew it. He spent most of the season on the bench, watching, studying, biting the bullet: 6 appearances for 124 total minutes before these last two.
He could have asked to leave in January, and some actually even suggested it. But he didn’t. He stayed. With his head down. Because every now and then there are still players who wait their turn without making noise.
L’Atalanta si gode Sulemana: a conti fatti l’ha pagato pochissimo
Now Atalanta has a complete, modern, and already weaned midfielder on its hands. One who has leg, but also reading. Who can break up play, but also insert himself. Who does not get lost in frills, but when needed pulls out shots that pierce games. When he got it from Cagliari, few paid attention. Not least because other names were involved in the deal: Zortea, valued at 5.5 million, and Piccoli, who left on an onerous loan worth about a million.
L’Atalanta si gode Sulemana: a conti fatti l’ha pagato pochissimo (LaPresse) – serieanews.com
On balance, to get Sulemana the Dea put a little over a million net on the table. You read that right: one million. In a soccer where indecent sums are shelled out for half touches of the ball and a few well-edited highlights on Instagram, this almost makes one laugh. But only up to a point.
Because in the meantime, Sulemana changed everything. He signed off on a Champions League-worthy goal against Roma. And then he decided not to stop. Because those who have waited months for a chance certainly don’t stop at the first cover. Against Genoa, another round, another wonder: a shot under the crossbar that was not the result of chance, but of work. The real kind. And now Ibrahim is in danger of becoming another piece of jewelry in that “sheiks'” team that is Gasperini’s Atalanta. You will see.
Two games, two heavy goals. It’s not just a matter of numbers, it’s a snapshot of an identity that has formed slowly, without a spotlight. And that now asks for only one thing: space. Sulemana is taking it for himself. With a footballing dignity that today is worth much more than the purchase price.
The irony is all there: he was supposed to be a fringe pawn, he became a pillar. It was supposed to be a fringe shot, it became a stroke of genius.
This article Atalanta, Sulemana jewel: the amount paid will make you laugh appeared in its original version first on SerieANews.
