Hamburg (dpa) – German Bundesliga club SV Hamburg has signed 18-year-old Gambian refugee Bakery Jatta to a three-year contract until 2019, the club announced this week.
«Bakery convinced us in our training sessions,» Hamburg chairman Dietmar Beiersdorfer said.
Jatta said he has never played club football. He fled Gambia in 2015 and through Italy arrived in Germany, eventually landing in Bremen.
«I grew up without parents. I had some very difficult conditions in Africa. I knew I needed to take this difficult and dangerous trek if I wanted a chance for a future,» Jatta said in an interview on the Hamburg website.
«It was a difficult time but now I want to look forward.»
Jatta was not permitted to sign a professional contract until his 18th birthday, which came on June 6.
He will not allowed to play with the club’s amateur Regionalliga team because he is a non-EU European.
