The world is full of young football talents. They grow up in the streets of São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Abuja or Belgrade, and the world is literally to their feet, so to speak.
These lads are on a mission to become the stars we will watch tomorrow. The next Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or João Felix.
At the same time, there are beautiful projects that focus on these players, from the Guardian’s top 60 young footballers yearly plan, the unique and high-quality Scouted Football, among others.
We are not going to compete with them. However, in our work and research in BabaGol, we discover many players that don’t get the focus or the chance to showcase what they can produce.
With that in mind, we have decided to share snippets of our source of knowledge. Our shadow scout, Juan Gafas, will pop-up weekly and will put the spotlight on one player that is worth your attention. This can be viewed as a tip for all BabaGolers to meet the next Jamie Vardy and Dado Pršo, or maybe the next Gary Medel or Jorge Valdivia, a moment (or a few years) before they become famous.
Without further ado, we present you the first edition of Baba Scouted:
Ronaldo Damus
Age: 20
Club: North Texas (USA, 3rd tier)
Position: Forward
Nationality: Haiti
Value market: Not Available (Transfermarkt)
Why follow him? In his first professional football season, he is the USL One top scorer with 16 goals, averaging a goal every 87 minutes in the regular season, and eventually helping the team win the league title. Picked by the USL Technical Committee as the best U20 in both his league and the USL Championship (2nd tier).
Apart from having a promising name, Ronaldo also has a great first step, good technique and clinical finishing. It's hard to tell how talented he really is, playing in the USA 3rd tier, but I just can't disregard how dominant and successful he was in his first professional season. Being ranked first on the 2019 USL U20 list is a good sign for his future, considering two of the previous USL top selections are playing for big Bundesliga clubs today (Tyler Adams and Alphonso Davies). North Texas is owned by MLS side FC Dallas, so the Haitian international should get a chance in a bigger league next season. I am intrigued to see how it will go.