Gambia Sports online medium has reported in their recent online publication that a Belgian journalist Sven Claes believes Gambia captain Omar Colley is one of the best defenders in the country’s top-flight.
Colley has enjoyed a fine campaign for KRC Genk, making 28 appearances this season and netting once to help his side into fifth in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League and into the Play-offs of the Championship Round.
According to Gambia Sports, Claes is happy to see the Gambia international in Belgium after he left Swedish club Djurgården IF in the summer of 2016 to move to Genk where he’s been a mainstay in their defense.
Physical when he needs to be but not a dirty player, his defensive attributes are many and his distribution is accurate and reassuringly measured.
In short, he is virtually the complete defensive package already and at only 25 years of age, he still has much growing to do in a professional sense.
“I really like this player. Colley has really impressed. Colley is the defense leader [in the Genk team],” Claes said in an interview with Swedish publication Fotbollskanalen.
Italian club Sampdoria were linked with the Scorpions defender during last summer’s transfer window but failed to bring him to the Stadio Luigi Ferraris after falling short of Genk’s €10m valuation of the player.
But with the former Wallidan, Real de Banjul and Kuopion Palloseura center back having two-years left on his contract with the three-time Belgian Jupiler Pro League winners, Claes feels he will move on at the end of the season.
“Omar Colley is one of the best defenders in Belgium. I think he’s ready for the next step, I think he’s leaving this summer,” he said.
Colley captains the Scorpions at their AfCON Qualifer to Benin in 2017 and has been manning the arm band for the Gambia in the recent past earning a high trust and confidence from Coach Sang Ndong.