Musa Barrow made the right decision by joining Bologna, according to his national team coach Tom Sainfiet.
Barrow joined Bologna on loan from Atalanta in January 2020 and made a big impact at the club, contributing nine goals and three assists in the 2019-20 season.
“His move to Bologna is very important for a player who’s at the peak of his career, Tom tells The Chronicle. “Atalanta has developed him very well and he was able to perform so well against top defenders in the Serie A.”
The striker’s performances during the final stages of the season, earned him the MVP award for June and July. Musa received a personalized gold plaque in recognition of this achievement.
“It’s important at his age to be a regular first team player for a top team in the Serie A and also scoring goals, it shows how good and determined he is, “he said. “He will develop and hopefully next season he will score more goals. He’s working under a top coach and competing in a very competitive league, so he can only grow.”
Barrow’s loan deal was supposed to end in June, but due to the Serie A being suspended because of the coronavirus pandemic, loaned players can extend their temporary contracts until the season officially comes to a close.
However, Bologna’s coach Sinisa Mihajlovic is reportedly keen to keep Barrow on a permanent basis.
Sainfiet, under whom the Scorpions have registered some significant breakthroughs in recent years, is expecting to build a winning team around a growing list of young and talented professional Gambian players like Musa Barrow. “I cannot build my team around one player, “he tells The Chronicle. “Apart from Musa Barrow and Juwara, there are so many young Gambian players doing so well with their clubs and I am monitoring most of them. These are players that are expected to qualify the Gambia.”
The Gambia currently leads their qualifying group for the forthcoming Africa Cup of Nations tournament now moved to January 2022 due to the Covid-19 outbreak- They have four points ahead of Gabon, DR Congo and Angola in group D.
“Leading the group doesn’t mean we are have qualified, “Tom said. “We are in a very tough group. We hope before the resumption of the qualifiers, Hamza Barry will recover from his cruciate ligament injury and also Lamin Jallow will regain more power.”