Most of the top players at the African Nations Cup already play for overseas clubs, but the Italian agents are here in force looking for new talent
SOCCER: Mark Gleeson
THEY peer like vultures from behind their designer sunglasses, puffing continuously on Marlboro Lights and scribbling on leather- bound pads.nnnStrangely, somehow, the posse of Italian footballing agents have managed to get themselves press accreditation for the African Nations Cup and sit conspicuously in the best seats in the house.
Few of their neighbours seem to know who they are, nor what they are doing.
It seems folly to arrive en masse at a tournament where all the best talent has already found a home in the lucrative professional leagues of Europe, but when the Italians follow fashion they do so slavishly.
The trendsetters already have Abedi Pele, Marcel Desailly and George Weah, who have taken the Italian Serie A by storm.
Abedi Pele, the three-time African Footballer of the Year, is captain of Torino; Accra-born Desailly, the adopted son of a French diplomat, almost single-handedly won the European Cup for AC Milan in 1994 and now Weah, with his incredible charisma and knack for the unbelievable, has become as important a fixture in Italy as the morning espresso.
The Italians want more of this “magic negra” and are here to entice more Africans to the world’s most expensive league.
There is also another reason for seeking more of the African presence — the traditional South American market will be rendered useless next season as the qualifiers for the World Cup finals in France get under way in earnest.
For the first time, South America’s 10 footballing nations will be playing their qualifying campaign in a single group, starting in April, and involving a match programme of 18 games for each country. This means all the South American internationals who play in Serie A will be obliged to go home frequently to don their national colours, leaving their contribution at club level in Italy both sporadic and frustrating for the
South Americans, normally as cheap and effective as African imports, have had their day, say the Italians, and now it is the turn of Africa.
Italy sets the trends for the rest of the world, so another minor posse of French, Belgian, Portuguese, Spanish and English agents are also on hand.
Already two of the Nations Cup protagonists have been signed to Italian clubs — Cameroonian teenage midfielder Augustine Simo to Torino and the Sierra Leonan central defender Kewulay Conteh, also 18, to Atalanta.
The big fish now is Mark Fish, who was due to go to England at the end of the tournament but now seems more inclined to head for the greater glamour and comfort of Serie A.
It took just 30 minutes after South Africa returned to their hotel after their 3-0 thumping of Cameroon in the opening match for the first Italian impresario to corner Fish in earnerst conversation in the dim lighting of the lounge.
Since then, his 21-year-old head has been pounded with so many tempting promises from every beckoning man with a moustache and designer jacket, that the frustrating pressure of it all was all too obvious this week.
Fish, the pseudo Jim Morrison bard (see Krisjan Lemmer), has taken on the look of a hunted deer, desperately trying to keep his mind on the tournament while still making sure he makes the best possible choice for his
Other South Africans mentioned in dispatches include David Nyathi and Sizwe Motaung, and the Italians are also casting their net
After the news that both Sampdoria and Parma were looking seriously at Fish leaked out, the Italian information grapevine has suddenly stopped bearing fruit. Competition between the clubs is an intense business and industrial espionage, blazing openly on the pages of sports dailies back home, a near mortal sin.
But if you watch the press seats at Soccer City carefully, see where the shades are staring, and you might be on the cutting edge of yet another African transfer to Calcio.