𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐚 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐧

“A few weeks after I turned 18, I moved to Spain. I couldn’t travel until I was 18, because I didn’t have a passport growing up. I was in the second division in Ghana and that season we got promoted to the top division, but that was when I got my move to Spain.

In my mind I had always wanted to play in Europe, so I knew that I had to go. It felt like magic for me, I had no idea where in Europe I would go – Spain or somewhere else – but it was always in my mind to move outside Ghana, and then I got my chance. So when my agent said I had the chance to go to Spain, I said ‘OK, I’m going. I’m leaving everything behind.’ Even though we had just got promoted.

Everyone wanted to play in the Premier League in Ghana, that was what we had worked so hard for, but it was also my dream to move abroad. I had watched a lot of games on TV – from the Premier League, La Liga – all the top clubs. So that was always my plan. Then when I got the chance, I didn’t know if it would work, but I put all my trust in them and in the end it went well.

Atletico Madrid wanted to sign me, but first of all I had to go to Leganes, because Atletico couldn’t sign me directly as I didn’t have a contract in Ghana. So that was short term, as a big favour from them to process my papers, then I could go to Atletico on a trial loan. That went very well, and then they signed me.”