By Sulayman Bah
Ousman Manneh looks on the verge of being shipped out on loan after seeing playing minutes hard to come by with Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.
Manneh, a refugee-turned professional footballer, has been out injured since March and is yet to make any appearance for Werder Bremen’s first-team, spending most of his time with the reserves in the German third tier.
However, the 21-year-old has recuperated from his injury as he continues process of regaining match fitness.
There still remain the qualms of playing minutes with club Sporting Director Niklas Schmidt particular about seeing the striker go out on loan.
Schmidt doesn’t see the third tier as a fitting ground for Ousman’s development preferring a loan for him to a second tier club where competitive football is guaranteed.
‘He is on the right track and should be able to get back in shape for the preparation. We favour a loan for him,’ he says.
There has been talk about the youngster furthering his development to Austria, the Netherlands or even Switzerland with clubs there said to have enquired about his availability but nothing definite came of the claim.
Dubbed Mamino by local fans in Gambia, Manneh has five goals to his name in seventeen (17) starts last season.
Then a teenager, the lanky goal-getter had heads turning two years ago with story of his rise from obscurity as an undocumented refugee to a top tier star.
Season after his burst, he netted for the first-team becoming, in the process, the first Gambian to score a goal in the Bundesliga.
