Edmond Tapsoba

His focus is on something else right now. It's not a car, and we don't know why.

Buying an unheard player from a relatively low-level European club at almost four times his market value by a German club makes one think about the subtleties of the footballing world. The player we're profiling here is a defender, a centre-back to be precise, and he is not South American. So it makes one wonder how Die Werkself came about doing this deal. We took a closer look, and this is what we found. Our defender is 21 years of age, and is a Burkinabé international. He started his career with Salitas FC. We're assuming he had his childhood training with them as well. It was followed by a short stint at US Ouagadougou. This was followed by a move abroad to Portugal. A year with the Leixões U19 team set him up for his next big adventure, and this time it was going to be big. Vitória Guimarães, the Portuguese first division club, signed him up and thrust him into their B team and was granted his first-team debut too. It was from them Bayer Leverkusen bought him. This big bloke has the nerve to step up and take penalty kicks. We might as well rest our case here. He's no Sergio Ramos, but the confidence he displays whilst he defends, and being fearless on the ball are some qualities that could have played a part in the transfer. His tackling couldn't have gone unnoticed either. The way his career could shape up depends on how well and how quickly he grasps the demands of German football. Right now, this Burkinabé athlete is a player to watch.