"Best Place, Best Moment": Can Issahaku Seize Big Break at Leicester?
In a summer that has seen some of Ghana’s brightest young forwards make big moves—headlined by Mohammed Kudus joining West Ham United and Ernest Nuamah signing for Olympique Lyon (via Belgian outfit RWD Molenbeek)—Abdul Fatawu Issahaku’s season-long loan transfer from Sporting Lisbon to Leicester City has flown a bit under the radar.
Perhaps, though, that isn’t too surprising.
The low-profile vibe very much reflects Issahaku’s trajectory since moving to Europe a year ago, after a stellar 2021 for his country’s U-20 team brought him to the limelight. The hottest prospect in the African game then, Issahaku—according to speculation that went viral at the time—may well have ended up at Liverpool, but it was to Sporting Lisbon that he eventually went.
Few clubs have a more glowing reputation for grooming and refining young talent like Sporting—it is, after all, from their stables that arguably the greatest footballer of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo, emerged—and it was hoped that Issahaku’s stay in the Portuguese capital would set him on his way to the future his vast potential deserves.
A little over a year later, it feels that the process hasn’t progressed as quickly as Issahaku or his well-wishers would have hoped for. He’s featured only 12 times for the Sporting first team—albeit at least once in each competition, adding up to just north of 270 minutes—with most of his playing opportunities coming in the youth ranks.
Cameos in Europe’s top inter-club competitions—notably against North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur (Uefa Champions League) and Arsenal (Uefa Europa League)—barely make it onto Issahaku’s highlight reel thus far at Sporting. What you’re more likely to find, instead, is a fabulous hat-trick scored against Ajax Amsterdam in last season’s Uefa Youth League; actually, that’s pretty much all the reel-worthy stuff.
Consequently, Issahaku’s value as a national asset has depreciated considerably. He hasn’t represented Ghana’s senior side—for whom he first played as a 17-year-old—since the 2022 Fifa World Cup ended. That appearance, against Uruguay, lasted all of a minute; for his most recent Black Stars start, you’d have to go back almost a full year, to September 2022.
The omission of his name from the roster—such as that named just this weekend, for the upcoming international break—raises no eyebrows these days, and that says all you need to know about just how much Issahaku’s stock has fallen in the estimation of the Chris Hughton-led technical team.
But while it is tempting, with all that considered, to think Issahaku’s development has stalled, it’s also important to remember that, despite the roller-coaster he’s been on in the last few years, he’s still only 19. He has his whole career ahead of him, and a player so prodigiously gifted is the sort most coaches would love to work with.
When that coach is Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca—recruited in the summer from Manchester City, where he was a prized member of Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff—you know there is every reason to maintain a positive outlook about what is yet to come for Issahaku.
“I’m so happy," Issahaku told club media at his unveiling.
"This is an amazing moment for me. I’m happy to be here. For me, from looking at Leicester and how I felt about the coach, here is the best place for me.
"This was the best moment for me to join Leicester. I chose them because I think they can grow me and help me mature. [Maresca] told me about the plans he has for me and how he wants me to play."
Prior to Issahaku’s arrival, Leicester had enjoyed a perfect start to their first season back in the Championship, winning all four opening games (as well as both of their League Cup fixtures), despite losing key players following their relegation.
During that run of league games, Maresca split playing time on the right side of attack—where Issahaku would expect to be primarily deployed—between youngsters Wanya Marcal-Madivadua and Kasey McAteer, with the two scoring three goals between them.
Leicester’s latest match—a shock 1-0 loss at home to Hull City, during which Issahaku came on for his debut—saw Maresca start Yunus Akgun, another summer loanee who has his eyes on a right-wing slot that hasn’t really been satisfactorily claimed by any player since the 2018 departure of Riyad Mahrez.
Issahaku is noticeably younger than Akgun (23), McAteer (21) and Marcal-Madivadua (20), but his 14-cap international career means none of those challengers has anything on him in terms of top-level experience. The Steadfast FC product would hope to leverage that advantage to jump to the front of the queue, knowing just how much he stands to gain by making an impression for the East Midlands outfit.
Included in the deal that took Issahaku to Leicester is an option to buy—for a fixed fee of €17 million—that only kicks in if the Foxes secure promotion; that, needless to say, is a call which wouldn’t be too hard to make should Issahaku play a starring role in achieving that objective.
Wherever he may be deployed —even if on the opposing flank or in midfield, where he is also capable of playing —Issahaku would do well to maximise any chances handed him to prove he remains on track and is worthy of a platform bigger than that to which he has been confined to at Sporting.
Writer: Enn Y. Frimpong
