6 min readAug 25, 2026 08:47 PM IST First published on: Aug 25, 2026 at 08:47 PM ISTBefore Mamadou Sangare had to convince the world of his talents, he had to conquer the streets. Growing up in the Malian town of Bamako, the teenager had to beat men twice his age to get noticed in the streets. “It was not 11 vs 11. There were times there were more than eleven players in a side, in grounds half the size of a normal football ground,” the breakout star of Gameweek One in English Premier League told FC Lens website last year.He shocked some of the elderly players with his courage and resistance. One of them handed him a pamphlet of Yeelen Olympique, one of the most prestigious academies in the nation, conducting a selection trials. He barely wasted time to impress the selectors. He arrived in the stadium with a pair of battered boots. He left with a new pair of boots and a twinkle in the eye of the coaches.