Floriana FC and English Coca-Cola Championship side Plymouth Argyle have reached an agreement whereby the former Greens striker Yala Bolasie is to join the English club for a nominal fee.
The news of the deal was reported in yesterday’s Western Morning News of Plymouth, which also said that the youngster was the Pilgrims’ latest recruit.
In the report, it was stated that Plymouth manager Paul Sturrock was looking forward to supervising the footballing education of the 19-year-old Yala Bolasie.
The Plymouth newspaper also reported that the fleet-footed winger, who has signed a two-year contract with the Devon side, was also attracting interest from Austrian outfit Sturm Graz (with whom he had a trial last month), German top-flight newcomers Hoffenheim, and FC Vaduz, a Swiss League club based in the capital of Liechtenstein.
Bolasie has been used as a second-half substitute in the Pilgrims’ first two pre-season friendlies of the summer, and was expected to be given a further taste of action at Kidderminster Harriers yesterday.
He is, however, regarded by Sturrock as a development player, and is not expected to go straight into Argyle’s Championship squad. “Yala is totally a potential player,” Sturrock disclosed. “His pace is quite frightening. His thought processes about the way the game should be played are frightening as well, in the opposite way.
“There’s a lot of work to be done on him, but he has the potential to be a wee nugget. We’ll work on him and see what develops. He might play bit-parts, but he has not been signed to be a first-team regular.”
Bolasie was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for whom his father played international football, but is a British citizen.
He signed a two-year contract with Floriana a year ago, and a member of the Maltese ‘Green Army’ brought him to the attention of Sturrock.
The Plymouth boss said: “Yala was recommended to us by somebody who supports Plymouth Argyle, and had seen him play in Malta.” The next step for the Pilgrims was the assessment of a DVD supplied by the teenager’s agent showing him in action. On the strength of that, he was invited to Home Park for a trial, and he has done enough to earn his contract.