It was on June 9, 2013, a youthful Gambia side lost 3-0 to a star-studded Ivory Coast in the qualifiers for the 2014 FIFA World Cup at Bakau’s Independence Stadium in front of an expectant home support. But despite the disappointment, a lot of positives were drawn from the encounter, including the display of a skinny and shy teenager who introduced himself to the international stage. Sulayman Marreh gave a man-of-the-match performance and a nation of expectant echoed with the rebirth of another Seyfo Soley, even prompting then Elephants Captain Didier Zokora tipping the Gambian for international stardom.
Tall, powerful, lanky, and a combative midfielder who is very effective in breaking play with an eye for that killer pass, Saul, known by his sobriquet, is a local boy who played for Samger Football Club in the domestic Gambian league at the time. He had already helped his country win the eight-nation U-19 international football tournament hosted in Umbria, Italy, earlier that month. His performances saw him linked to Inter Milan and he told me in an interview back home that he was set for medicals with the Italian giants. What must have happened to scupper that deal remains a mystery but what was evident is that Marreh’s talent was never in doubt and a new prodigy was born with the potential to be a big star.
Saul made a name for himself with the National Team when he was trusted with his Scorpions debut as a 17-year-old by the late Peter Bonu Johnson eight years ago. Following his failed move to the Guiseppe Meaza and the protracted interest from Tottenham Hotspur that never bore fruits, Marreh joined Granada in the Spanish top flight from his boyhood club, Samger. After early promises with the youth side, he broke into the A Team in La Liga but would only make just a solitary appearance and his career stalled due to a serious ligament damage in his knee.
Struggling for fitness and after four seasons in Andalusia largely playing in the Segunda B (an equivalent of the third tier in Spain), he left and was written off and discarded at just 21. He was dismissed at some quarters as another case of a Gambian sensation who failed to fulfill his true potential. But in that same summer of 2017, against all the odds, he signed for Watford in the English premier league who sent him straight on loan to Real Valladolid in Spain’s Segunda Division. After an unsuccessful first-half of the season at the Estadio Jose Zorilla, he joined Almeria and played in 12 matches at the Estadio de los Juegos Mediterraneos. But never one to stop believing in his own capabilities, the Abuko native’s several years hard work, patience and determination to prove his worth finally paid off on his return to England. This proved to be the defining moment of his career when former Real Madrid and Chelsea legend Claude Makelele signed him initially on loan for Belgian top-flight side KAS Eupen in August 2018 with the lure of regular playing time. Putting behind his health issues, he put together a string of consistent performances and in March, the move was made permanent.
A year and a half on, his career took another positive turn as he was seen pointing his index finger in excitement to the badge of K.A.A. Gent on Tuesday afternoon when he was introduced as a new player at the Ghelamco Arena. He had just signed on the dotted lines for three and half seasons with the Buffalos, who currently lie third on the Belgian pro league table and set to face AS Roma in the last 32 of the Europa League next month. “Sulayman is someone we have been following for a very long time. Under Claude Makelele he played at a very high-level last season and we assume that he will be able to fully develop that potential at KAA Gent. He is a young defensive midfielder, strong in ball recovery but also has a great ability to play football. And more importantly, he is a boy with an excellent mentality. Together with Elisha he will form the defensive block of our midfield,” Gent’s Sporting Manager Peter Verbeke said of their Gambian export.
Having played 30 times for the Pandas last season, scoring a goal and providing two assists, this season he participated in 11 games for Eupen. He also scored the winner as The Gambia humiliated Angola 3-1 in Luanda in the opening match of the 2021 African Cup of Nations qualifiers in November and also featured in the full match in the 2-2 draw with the Democratic Republic of Congo. Turning 24 in a week, and set to join his new teammates at their winter preseason training camp in Spain, it is safe to say that Saul Marreh has finally begun to fulfill those potentials that saw the likes of Yaya Toure and Zokora looked in awe of his talent in that Banjul encounter. He now has the maturity, experience and temperament to be a world beater.