Gambian international defender Bubacarr Sanneh has joined Danish Superliga side Aarhus on an initial loan from Belgian club Anderlecht for the rest of the season. This news will come as a welcome boost for both player and Scorpions coach Tom Saintfiet ahead of March’s two crucial AFCON qualifiers at home to Angola and away to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The former Real de Banjul protégé is no stranger to Danish football having made his professional debut there in 2014 when he left the Gambian side to join AC Horsesn on an initial loan. Horsens exercised their option to make the move permanent and Sanneh helped guide the team from the second tier to the top flight, but played just one season with them in the Superliga when Horsens made a significant profit on him as they sold the rock solid defender to FC Midtjylland in 2017, where he became a Danish champion in 2018.
In the summer of 2018, he moved to Anderlecht as one of the Belgian side’s most expensive purchases but after a solitary season, he joined Goztepe in the Turkish top flight on loan where he lasted for only half-a-season before returning to his parent club.
“After Niklas Backman unfortunately has been seriously injured, we faced a current challenge in our back line. We have hopefully now solved it with a skillful defender in the form of Sanneh, who for several seasons has shown his worth in the Superliga,” Jacob Nielsen the CEO of Aarhus told the club’s official website.
“Sanneh is a top player who is at a good age. He has matured by being in Belgium and later also in Turkey, and we look forward to welcoming him back to Denmark and to AGF, where he will boost our defense with his physical strength and his hard work. Everyone probably remembers his qualities from his first time in the league, and even though he has not played so many games lately, he is still a skillful defender, who will help guard our defense well during the spring that offers a lot of matches.”
Bubacarr Sanneh has played a combined 123 matches with Belgian teams, 67 of those coming in the Superliga where he scored 11 goals in his first stint. He is a national team player for The Gambia and as a key defender for Saintfiet, mainly partnering Omar Colley; he has represented the Scorpions on 24 occasions.
He will join his teammates at the Danish neighborhood of Fredensvang, Aarhus, when he finishes his mandatory quarantine and returns a positive test result that every new player must undergo during this devastating Covid19 pandemic.
Five-time Danish champions and 9 domestic cup winners, Aarhus reached the 1961 European Cup quarterfinals where they lost to eventual winners Benfica. They currently lie 3rd on the Superliga table with 24 points in the halfway stage, three points adrift of joint leaders FC Midtjylland and Brondby. They last won the title in 1986.
