This is the kind of story that makes you love football again. After six games with Olympique de Marseille last year (one goal), Senegalese striker Bamba Dieng is adding up goals in this season 2021/2022, adding up games played as well, and thus showing his coach Jorge Sampaoli that he can rely on him, which was maybe not in his plans when the new season began in last August.

The youngster, twenty-one years old, is only experimenting his second season in Europe after having played for Diambars FC in Senegal (2019-2020). Native from Pikine, not so far from Dakar, Dieng benefited from absences in the front line of Marseille to start building up a reputation: Arkadiusz Milik first, the forward from Poland being injured since the beginning of the season, but also French star Dimitri Payet, who cannot play all the games at a post which is not his predilection on, at thirty-four years old on top of that. Valère Germain, not scoring many goals but still a striker, gone to Montpellier, a real opportunity could be seized by Dieng. And he did it.

Having scored three goals in four games, the young Bamba is no stranger to the excellent beginning of season of the Olympians, who are ranking second of Ligue 1 with one game less than their contenders (against OGC Nice). In a team where new Argentinian coach Jorge Sampaoli seems to consider that everyone is interchangeable, with players changing from one game to another with the same success (Marseille is still unbeaten in the league), Bamba Dieng is playing his cards right, like this game in Monaco won 2-0 with a lot of spontaneity and carefreeness.

It is too early to say if Dieng will be as successful as former Senegalese players who wore the blue and white jersey like Habib Beye or Mamadou Niang, but the starting is arousing hope.