Ghanaian born Liberian refugee makes Bayern Munich history

A Bayern Munich starlet, who was born in a refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled the Liberian civil war, wrote his name into the German giants’ history book on Sunday.

Alphonso Davies was born in Buduburam, a refugee camp in Ghana. His parents, who are both Liberian, fled their homeland during the Second Liberia Civil War before moving, as refugees, to Canada when Alphonso was five.

There, Davies learned his footballing skills and quickly rose to stardom, making his professional debut for Whitecaps FC 2 aged 15 years and five months in April 2016.

In September the same year, he became the second youngest goalscorer in Major League Soccer history after netting for Vancouver Whitecaps, and he was later named the club’s Player of the Season after a breathtaking debut campaign.

Davies’ exploits in the MLS did not go unnoticed, with European giants such Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool reportedly interested in his services before Bayern snatched him up for a fee of $13.5 million (R195 million), plus performance-based add-ons.

The 18-year-old joined the German giants at the beginning of this year, and made his Bundesliga debut on 27 January, in a 4-1 win over VfB Stuttgart.

Having since made four more league appearances off the bench, he has now scored his first Bundesliga goal for the Bavarians, in their 6-0 thrashing of Mainz on Sunday.

In doing so, Davies became the club’s youngest goalscorer in almost 20 years, as well as the first player born in 2000 or after to score for Bayern, as per Bundesliga.com.

Davies’ goal came at the age of 18 years and 15 days, making him the youngest to find the back of the net for the Bundesliga leaders since Roque Santa Cruz scored in a 3-0 win over Unterhaching, aged 18 years and 12 days, back in August 1999.

The young winger gained Canadian citizenship in June 2017, and has since represented Canada five times.

Source: Graphic.com.gh