While he never really got a chance to play regularly at Leicester City, Kamal Sowah earned the club a tidy £8m or so in the summer.
Signed from the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana, the now 21-year-old was immediately sent on loan to OH Leuven in Belgium for three and a half years before being recalled in the summer and then sold to Club Brugge.
However, his career could have been very different, as he explained in an interview with DH that he could have signed for Manchester City.
Pep Guardiola’s side are well known for buying talent from all over the world to develop in their academy, and Sowah was another that caught their eye, which is why they tried to bring him in.
However, the midfielder explained he turned down the chance to go to the Etihad club.
He said: “Yes, I refused an offer in Denmark and I was also contacted by Manchester City. Many of my teammates at the academy in Ghana signed at City, because there was a collaboration between the two. My parents were worried because many of them came back to the country a few years afterwards, with a bit of money, but they suffered from solitude.
“I spoke with Ernest Agyiri and Divine Naah. They didn’t tell me not to go to City, but they told me their experiences, the many loans and that solitude. I wanted to avoid that, so I joined Leicester, telling myself it wasn’t as big. I think it has been the best decision of my life”.
Sowah may have never played for Leicester City, but the chance to move them opened a door for him in Belgium, as his exploits with OH Leuven earned him recognition in the country.
This led him to his summer move away from the Foxes to Club Brugge, where he now gets to play in the Champions League, having already faced Paris Saint-Germain in their competition opener and holding them to a 2-2 draw.
As for Leicester, they pocketed some money and made a profit in the process.
