Manneh becomes the mentor
WHITECAPS: At tender age of 22, suddenly ‘senior player’ takes wunderkind Davies under his wing
Now that he’s the senior-most forward on the Whitecaps, Kekuta Manneh has become a mentor to young Alphonso Davies.
He tells the wunderkind not to believe all the hype surrounding him. He tells him he has to keep his priorities straight and focus on the game and his work rate. He tells him as he progresses, things get harder, not easier, and if he takes any of this for granted, other players will pass him like he’s standing still.
Yes, when you’re the ripe old age of 22, you’ve gained a perspective about the game, and Manneh wants to share his experience with the 16-year-old Davies. True, experience is a relative term in this case, but Manneh has earned the right to dispense wisdom just as he’s earned all those battle scars in — can it be? — his four full years with the club.
“I like to feel young, but I know I’m not that young anymore,” Manneh said following the Whitecaps’ training session on Wednesday. “I’m a senior player now. I feel a bit of a responsibility.
“I know what I want. I know what my goals are. And I know what I need to do to reach those goals. I’m here now and I’ve got to perform here before I can think of Europe or Team USA. I’ve got to take care of business here.”
And those other things will take care of themselves.
As a new season dawns for the MLS club, it’s hard to believe Manneh is still only 22 and hard to believe he’s about to start his fifth season with the Caps. He arrived, much like Davies, as a thunderbolt and quickly established himself as the brightest of a new generation of Whitecaps players. In 2013, his rookie year, he scored three goals against Seattle and had scouts from Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool looking his way. The next year, a young Whitecaps team with Manneh, Darren Mattocks, Gershon Koffie and Matias Laba made the playoffs and the future looked as bright as a new sunrise.
But that was three years ago and the bright future never arrived. Mattocks and Koffie would be dispatched. Pedro Morales, who looked so good in that 2014 season, never took the next step and was sent packing this off-season. It’s a new team in 2017 with new feature players and a new rising star in Davies.
As for Manneh, he’s coming off a broken foot that cost him half of last season and had threatened his place in the lineup. He’s not exactly overthe-hill and no one should write off a 22-year-old. But he’s no longer the ingenue and, suddenly, there’s a sense of urgency about the Gambian.
“I think this is a year where he stays healthy and finds that sweet spot,” said Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi. “I guess we’ve been saying that for a couple of years now.”
“Every year is a big year,” said Manneh. “For now, I want to enjoy every single moment of playing. I find I’m at my best when I think like that. That’s the mentality I want to have this year.”
That mentality was tested last year when Manneh suffered a season-ending injury against Colorado in July. To that point, he’d scored five goals in 17 games and was on his way to his most productive season in Vancouver. But, without Manneh, the Whitecaps folded like a road map and missed the playoffs for the first time in three years.
He’s returned this season to a new team and, for the moment, a new position, attacking from a more central position, while Davies moves out to Manneh’s favoured spot on the flanks. The move was necessitated by an injury to midfielder Yordy Reyna and issues over the fitness level of new striker Fredy Montero. It also has something to do with Davies’ performance.
“He’s (Manneh) still young, but now we’ve got a younger kid (Davies),” Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson said. “(Manneh) is still growing. He has a lot to learn. But Kekuta is obviously a big player for us this year. When he performs he has to perform more consistently and become one of the best players on our team.”
The talent, one supposes, is still there. Manneh remains one of the fastest players in MLS and his speed remains the cornerstone of his game. But he also has to turn his jaw-dropping runs into something meaningful. Goals, for example. If Manneh can produce, that changes a lot of things for the Whitecaps this season.
It also changes things for his future.
“His aspirations are to go to Europe,” Lenarduzzi said. “He’s said that from the time he arrived and he’s certainly someone who’s generated a lot of interest there.”
But, unless you produce, you’re easily forgotten. This is something else Manneh has come to know through experience.