Turkey-based Ghanaian footballer, Mohammed Sumaila has surprisingly signed for a Turkish club Yorukalispor for a transfer fee of ten pounds of olive oil.
According to Wires, the footballer made the headlines in Turkey on Monday after agreeing to play for a local team in Bursa, Turkey, for 10 liters of organic olive oil.
Poor farmers in villagers in the Turkish town of Bursa got together to get the talented player to play for them but did not have the money to pay the monies associated with top professionals.
Even though the Ghanaian player had asked neither money nor olive oil for his services the villagers decide to present him the local produce, in this case, organic olive oil and whole 10 liters of it.
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He said that he was invited to play for Yörükalispor, in the month-long tournament, by one of his old teammates from İzmir Gaziemirspor, Tayfun Albayrak.
“I came to this village team after I was invited by a former teammate. I will not be paid for playing but the villagers have told me that they would give me some of the locally produced organic olive oil. I accepted the offer gladly. My dream is to play for a first-tier football team in Turkey,” Sumaila said.
Mohammed Sumaila is an amateur Ghanaian footballer who was born in Accra, Ghana (1991), but has been spending his playing years on the Turkish side.
Sumaila, who has been playing amateur football in different cities across Turkey for the last five years, was hired by a team called Yörükalispor, to play in a local tournament in Bursa.
“I am 25. I have been playing amateur football in Turkey for nearly five years. I have played for different teams in Torbalı, Tire, Soma, and Gaziemir so far. I have joined Kütahya for the upcoming season,” Sumaila said.
“But, during the off season, I was asked by Yörükalispor to play in this football tournament. I’m playing for a village team for the first time,” he explained.
The Ghanaian player impressed everyone in his first appearance for Yörükalispor’s in the tournament, so much so that in the second game their opponents, Ülkü75spor blocked him from taking the field for 20 minutes.
When he was finally able to join the match, Yörükalispor were already trailing and eventually lost the match 3-2.
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