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Following his impressive performance for the Black Stars in their qualification to the 2022 World Cup, Gideon Mensah has become a favourites of football fans in Ghana. But how did it all start for the left back?
From the trenches of Dunkwa in Upper Denkyira in the Central Region of Ghana, Gideon Mensah found himself playing football in every corner where there was a pitch.
Though the life of many footballers in Ghana is often very tough, Gideon Mensah had a very jolly ride.
As Mensah had confirmed in an interview in 2019, his football career happened so quick and he never got time to look back as he remained focused.
The 23-year-old started playing for a juvenile team in his neighbourhood in Dunkwa where he had his early education and played in some high school regional tournaments and Milo games.
Mensah later moved to Obuasi in the Ashanti region where he for a youth team called Bafana Bafana.
Shortly after his move to the Golden City, Mensah was scouted by Feyenoord currently known as the West Africa Soccer Academy [WAFA].
After a short stint with the Academy boys in the Ghana Premier League, Mensah had a breakthrough move to Austria to play for Liefering.
Mensah previously had trials with clubs in Portugal but never had the opportunity to put pen to paper.
“It wasn’t easy for me but I met some Ghanaian guys like Lawrence Ati-Zigi, so it was a bit easy for me but I didn’t have to count on them because they were already there, I had to also count on myself,” the former Ghana u23 player said about his move to Austia.
The left-back featured in 47 matches for the Austrian club and scored 4 goals before joining Red Bull Salzburg for €900,000.
The Ghanaian had a short spell with Red Bull as he was sent on loan to Belgian side Zulte Waregem.
After one spell with the Belgians, Mensah departed from the club making 23 appearances with three goals.
The former Black Meteors player after returning from Belgium got an offer from Barcelona to play for the club but unfortunately, the move did not materialize and his agents managed to move him to Vitoria Guimarães in Portugal.
Currently, on loan at Bordeaux from Vitoria Guimarães, Mensah has enjoyed a good ride in the French Lig Un playing against the likes of Messi, Neymar, Mbappe among others.
Mensah was part of coach Ibrahim Tanko’s Black Meteors squad in 2018 who were hoping to play at the 2020 Olympic Games but unfortunately failed to relish their dreams.
At age 21, the former WAFA player earned his debut call-up to play for the Black Stars under coach Kwasi Appiah and saw 90 minutes of action on his debut.
After missing out on the 2019 AFCON, the left-back was handed his maiden AFCON tournament in Cameroon but never featured in any game at the tournament as the Black Stars exited at the group stages.
Following the dismissal of Serbian coach Milovan Rajevac, coach Otto Addo was brought in to qualify the Black Stars for the World Cup in Qatar and Gideon Mensah was part of the project.
The player impressed in the first leg against Nigeria at the Baba Yara Stadium where he played 90 minutes in the 0-0 game.
Impressed with the leg-back efforts, Otto Addo handed the 23-year-old a starting role in the second leg at Abuja and after 13 minutes of action, Gideon Mensah was able to assist Thomas Partey to score the Black Stars vital goal against the Super Eagles which sealed the Black Stars 4th qualification to the World Cup.
After making it to the World Cup with the Black Stars, Gideon Mensah has confirmed that he is looking forward to playing against Ronaldo at the group stages after Ghana was paired alongside Portugal, Uruguay and South Korea.
