In the last seconds of the game between VfL Wolfsburg and RB Salzburg in the Youth League are running when the guests come up against an attack when the score is 1-1. Samson Baidoo (17) initiates the final spurt, plays the ball on the wing and marches towards the opposing penalty area. There he gets to the play equipment a little later and has the chance of victory. Full concentration, keeping your eyes on the ball, before finishing with the inside from a short distance marks the 2: 1 final score. In an interview with Transfermarkt, the defender with a nose for goal describes the trip to Lower Saxony as “special”. “I’ll never forget that,” says Baidoo.
While the trips through Europe with the “young bulls” are highlights, his everyday life essentially takes place in the Austrian lower house, where he is a regular at Liefering . Baidoo, who was one of the winners in the market value update in Austria’s 2nd division on Wednesday, is under coach René Aufhauser . After 16 matchdays, Liefering is three points behind leaders Austria Lustenau in second place – as the youngest team in the league. On average, the talents are only 18.5 years old.
Baidoo has played twelve games so far, mostly over the full distance. “You can tell that it’s harder and the intensity is higher,” says the defensive talent about his first year in the men’s area. “You can also see physically that not everyone is the same age, there are a lot of experienced players in the league. They know what they can do, ”explains Baidoo, who has spent a lot of time in the weight room in the past few months getting“ more aggressive and robust ”in order to adapt to the new level. Despite the change, it has been “a good start” for him so far. “Over time it got better and better,” says the Austrian junior international with Ghanaian roots.
In the winter of 2018 he moved from the youth of the Grazer AK to the Red Bull Football Academy, from where he made the leap to the men’s division over all of the junior years. At the beginning of this year, he came into the focus of Jesse Marsch , who brought the youngster into training at RB Salzburg as part of the preparation for the second half of the 2020/21 season and even used it for a few minutes in a test match – at the age of 16. ” Laola1 ” described Baidoo a few weeks after his first appearance for the “Red Bulls” as the “right edge”, whose force is one of their “greatest strengths”.
“He is characterized by his incredible overview and calmness both in defense and in opening the game,” says TM user and Salzburg godfather “oesterreicher_1”. “Despite his young age, he has a certain callousness and leadership skills and is also extremely physically advanced,” explains the user. “I’m a quiet guy,” says the 1.87 meter tall defender of himself. “Sometimes I annoy my opponents a little,” reveals Baidoo with a laugh and draws a comparison to the most valuable German central defender: Antonio Rüdiger (28).
“He also annoys the strikers to get them off the rails – that’s what I celebrate about him. Although he’s not a captain, he’s actually head of the defense, ”explains Baidoo, who also has Dayot Upamecano (23) in mind and whose style of play“ I like ”. Meanwhile, the youngster sees similarities to the two and cites speed, play structure, offensive urge and the risk of goals after standard situations as examples. While the two central defenders have reached the top of the career ladder, Baidoo is only in the starting blocks. His current goals are to “play a good season and show performance”. Title wins on both national and international level should “hopefully” follow.
Source: transfermarkt.at
