Fabio Gama of Kumasi Asante Kotoko
Ghana Premier League clubs have in the past signed players from Brazil who have failed to adapt to the conditions in the West Africa country.
Prior to the arrival of Fabio Gama, Asante Kotoko had signed four Brazilian players – Uly De Castro Rodriguez, Gleison De Souza Ferreira, Fabio Louis Rodriguez Da Silva and Hermes Da Silva – all had failed to glitter in the GPL.
There were doubts over Gama’s quality even before his arrival because of two things; his numbers and the performance of Brazilian players in the past.
Even before coming to Ghana, Gama knew how great Kotoko is locally and on the continent and the task ahead of him.
“I decided to come to Ghana because I saw that Kotoko is the biggest club in Ghana and I have wanted to come and play for them and do my best,” he said on Pure FM.
Convincing his family to come to Ghana was not really difficult because of the familiarity with Brazil.
“It is okay because the weather is the same, is not different but when I came here, I found little difficulties about the food, because is too much different but now I am use to eat Ghana food.
“It wasn’t difficult convincing my family because wherever I go, I go with them.
A journeyman who has played in different part of the world including Europe, explained that staying in Europe is easier than being in Ghana.
“Sweden is an European Country and things are easy but in Ghana is more difficult, the people here are survivors – they fight to survive, so there is a difference between Europe and Country because things are easy in Europe but in Ghana, the people are survivors, they fight to survive everyday and I like them,” he said.
The Midfielder received all the hype in the local media even before his debut.
He had to wait for sometime before making his debut due to match fitness and other technical reasons.
He made his long awaited debut against Medeama at Tarkwa in an outstanding week 4 game where he played less than 10 minute.
His first goal contribution was against Liberty Professionals at Accra Sports Stadium where he sent a long pass to Kwame Opoku to score.
A goal he said was practiced in training for long.
“It is something we practiced in training before executing it and it worked perfectly in that game.”
He went on a long drought – no goal no assist again till the end of the first round.
His secret weapon he said us Jesus Christ and hardwork and he kept relying on the two in difficult times and the second round came with fireworks.
He scored his first goal against Eleven Wonders and followed it up with a goal and an assist against Bechem United in the next game.
A survivor from Brazil who is playing quite well in Ghana and is changing the cliche that Ghana Premier League Clubs can only sign poor Brazilian players and is being loved by most Ghanaians.
“We are survivors too so when we came to Ghana, we had to too quickly to the life in Ghana, we tried to do our best not only inside the pitch but outside the pitch, the people’s affection for us makes us happy – when we go to the market, the people come to take pictures with us and it makes us happy,” Gama said.
The now Kotoko poster boy is targeting winning Asante Kotoko their 25th Ghana Premier League in his debut season in Africa.
“My target is to win the Ghana Premier League.
“Asante Kotoko have all the conditions to win the Ghana Premier League because we have a great team, we won’t depend on other teams to win, we will depend on ourselves and I am sure we can do it. We will fight to it,” he revealed.