By: Baboucarr Fallaboweh
Former Gambia U20 striker Momodou Bojang has raised a red flag after Rainbow FC announced the transfer of two Gambian players to Portuguese club Moreirense FC.
Bojang was bought by Rainbow Academy from Brikama Utd for €10,000 and penned a four-year contract. He went on loan to Boavista, Famalicao and Hibs FC.
” Rainbow FC is exploiting Gambians; they don’t care about the players’ welfare. I have never met the owner; they collect their percentage and leave you wondering. I was not paid while in Boavista,” Bojang told Alkamba Times Sports.
Bojang, whose contract was terminated in Scotland, admits that he kept a cool head though he sensed danger.
“The first game was good; the fans and board liked me. Once the (technical team) saw that this boy was a good player, they stepped on my progress and failed to give me a chance to prove myself and play. If they gave me a chance to play, they were obligated to sign me permanently. The coach told me he wouldn’t use me for three to four months. Rainbow collided with Hibs to terminate my contract; they paid the loan and agent fee. Rainbow is using me to make money; I do not want to work with them; they are fake; they don’t help players. I want to take them to FIFA, they are supposed to pay me, but they are not paying me currently.”
The Alkamba Time reached out to Rainbow Football academy representative in the Gambia to put forward the allegations, and Momodou Jallow responded negatively.
Bojang, currently in the Gambia, accused Rainbow Academy Football of making a profit in his name, consistently making him sign loan deals. He said Rainbow Academy Football asked for £3000 for the agent fee and £20,000 for the loan fee.
“Rainbow has no problem with Bojang. We invested so much in him to see him fail. We signed Bojang from Brikama Utd after his impressive performance at the U20 AFCON, that time, we were searching for someone to be the face and ambassador of Rainbow FC because it was a new project.”
“We bought him from Brikama for 10,000 euros and gave him €400 and £300 on separate occasions for his signing fee. Who will spend this much money on a player to see him fail? We spent this much on him because we believed in him and his hunger on the field; we said he could be the one to put us on the map, and we were not worried about how much we spent on him. We just wanted that single player who has the potential to announce us to the football world,” He indicated.
“Bojang signed four years with Rainbow FC; within one 1year and six months of his contract, we took him to 3 different top-flight clubs Boavista, famalicao, and Hibs, respectively. When these teams came, they wanted the player on loan with an option to buy because they didn’t just want to buy, and later the player will flop. And anyone who knows about football knows this is normal in the football business. So we cannot force teams to buy a player on a permanent deal; all we can do is create a platform to showcase his talent and worth to the team so they can exercise the buy option.”
“Bojang had an opportunity in all these three teams mentioned, but none wanted to exercise the buy option. So tell me what Rainbow’s fault is. Our players should learn to take responsibility rather than play a blame game on people who are trying so hard to help them. Because if Bojang fails to succeed, it is our loss, and if it makes it, we all gain.”
“His loan to the first two teams was free; we never received a single money, then we decided the one with Hibs will have a loan fee which they paid, and Brikama got their share because they still own a percentage of the player.”
Jallow further mentioned that Bojang failed to live up to expectations, and his failure cannot be attributed to Rainbow FC.
“They didn’t think he could impact their first team at Hibs, so they decided to cut his loan deal short. How is that the fault of Rainbow if a player cannot impress on his loan spell with all these teams? As a rising star, you should show more hunger, discipline, and desire and not settle for anything less. Signing a professional contract is just the beginning of the long journey, and we all know that success in football doesn’t come cheaply, ” Jallow added.
