Juma Bah admits Manchester City “dream” after stellar full Ligue 1 debut for Lens | OneFootball

Manchester City is the “dream” destination for on-loan centre-back Juma Bah, who made his full Ligue 1 debut with Lens over the course of the weekend.

The Sierra Leone-born defender became affiliated with the Premier League champions as part of a busy January transfer window that saw Manchester City recruit four defensive players in total, with two immediately integrating into the first-team set-up.

Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis have both impressed enormously since their respective moves from Lens in France and Palmeiras in Brazil, with the former largely being viewed as the club’s most in-form player at present.

Christian McFarlane – a left-sided full-back – also made the switch to Manchester City from sister club New York City FC, before joining up with the Etihad club’s youth sides and making debuts in a number of development competitions in the last few weeks.

Ultimately the dream for all named will be to hold down a consistent place as a Manchester City player in the first-team squad, and it is that dream that has now been openly discussed by Juma Bah – currently out on loan at Lens.

Speaking during a new interview with BBC Sport Africa, Bah admitted his feeling that playing for Manchester City at some stage in his rapidly developing career would be a “dream”, with the aim being to win trophies.

“It would be a dream for me to play with these great players at Manchester City,” the 18-year-old said. “I usually play with them on PlayStation. Playing with them in real life will be amazing.”

The Sierra Leone star continued, “I’m looking forward to go there and learn, and to have the best coach in the world. My aim is to win trophies.”

Juma Bah’s comments come off the back of his first start for Lens since arriving from Real Valladolid and a loan agreement with Manchester City, starring in a 0-1 win over Marseille in Ligue 1 action.

Manchester City will no doubt be watching Bah’s performances at the top of French football closely, particularly with a decision due to be made over the player’s long-term future at the end of his short-term loan deal in the summer.

There remains a chance that Juma Bah could be integrated into Manchester City’s squad for the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, with Pep Guardiola recently admitting that he would be keen to bring an expanded roster over the Atlantic for the competition.