Senegal to the East End: The Journey That Forged West Ham’s Cheikhou Kouyate

It’s fitting that rising West Ham have a player made of iron in midfield. What is more remarkable is how Cheikhou Kouyate got there. The towering man’s journey from Dakar, Senegal, to London’s East End was long and risky. West Ham are happy he made it.

The Senegal native picked up the Hammers’ Individual Performance of the Season award last year for his unforgettable display against Manchester United, and in his second season, he has been a consistently dominant presence. Kouyate faced a challenge when Slaven Bilic became West Ham’s manager this year—replacing Sam Allardyce, who had brought the midfielder to the club—but he hasn’t missed a beat.

“Bilic was determined to keep him on when he took charge,” says Saffet Balkan—Kouyate’s agent. “He told me he loves Kouyate’s willingness to do anything for the team.”

Kouyate’s main contribution has been as a ball-winner at West Ham’s hub. He’s made the most tackles—averaging 2.8 per game, according to WhoScored.com—and the most interceptions in midfield, with 2.3 per match.

Kouyate rose through the youth ranks of ASC Yego Dakar before trying to break into European football. In 2007, at the age of 17, he went for trials in France but failed to secure a contract because he didn’t have the paperwork to reside in the country.

Penniless and without an agent or club, Kouyate’s European adventure looked to have been a disaster. The teenager found himself at loose ends—halfway around the world from his home. But his efforts did not go unnoticed.

A scout introduced Belgium-based Turkish football agent Balkan to Kouyate, and the agent was immediately struck by how physically developed Kouyate was for his age.

“He had the physique of a player far older and great lungs,” Balkan said.

Taking on young players is always a risk. The annals of football history are full of players tipped to be the next Diego Maradona who do not quite meet expectations, but Balkan decided the young midfielder was worth taking a punt on.

But there was a problem. Kouyate lacked a work permit. So Balkan went a bit beyond the player-agent relationship. “I took him under my wing and adopted him until he was 18 so that he could stay in Belgium,” he said.

Balkan underlined that it was not just Kouyate’s talent that impressed him but also his attitude. The player’s soft voice belies a hunger to succeed and a steely determination. Moving from Senegal to Western Europe only to have his dreams of becoming the next Patrick Vieira—also born in Dakar—shattered must have been devastating, but he didn’t have the luxury of self-pity.

With no plan B, he had to find a way to break through or return home. While youth-academy products at top European clubs lived a playboy lifestyle during their teenage years, Kouyate was grafting for a living.

What he lacked in material wealth he made up for in mental strength. Being able to cope with such pressure at a young age probably helped him on the field, especially in a defensive midfield role that demands emotional stability. Despite not playing for a club at the time, the young midfielder made it clear he had his sights set on the Premier League.

“I always wanted to play in England,” he said. “It was a childhood dream.”

It was second-tier Belgium outfit FC Brussels that gave him his first shot, but his time at the club was marred by a pay dispute that added more strains to his already-precarious financial position. Balkan worked with Kouyate to resolve his situation, but it was a world far away from the glitz and glamour often associated with football.

“For almost three years I covered his rent, provided food and other expenses,” Balkan says. “Those days were tough, but it brought us all together. He was always humble, and he became like a brother to my son, who remains close friends to this day.”

Kouyate ploughed on, and it was not long before he got his big break: Anderlecht snapped him up on a free transfer in 2008. After gaining …

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