Table of Contents
- Juma Bah’s journey to Manchester City is a story of hope
- He signed with Spanish club Valladolid to play in its U-19 squad but was too good for it
- He terminated his contract with the team and signed with his childhood club, Man City
Juma Bah Man City journey didn’t happen overnight; it was a dream that pestered him any day while working at his family-owned bakery.
Bah loves football, but not more than his love and respect for Manchester City. Away from school, the team’s sky-blue theme colours jogged his mind while at the bakery and his local football pitch.
Today, the teenager is close to making his dream of playing in Etihad. The Pep Guardiola-led team is his favourite his PlayStation.
Juma Bah Man City Story
It all starts in Congo Market, a humble estate within Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. He doesn’t recall how many times he woke up later than 4 am for years.
Bah had to be up and about by the crack of dawn for him to do his chores, go to school and training. AIK Freetong, a third-tier club in Sierra Leone brought Juma Bah Man City dream closer.
He played for AIK for 10 months and climbed the ladder to the Freetonians SLIFA in the Sierra Leone Premier League on loan. Scouts from Europe followed his progress from AIK Freetong to SLIFA.
Juma Bah, 18, from Sierra Leone. He signed with Man City in January 2025. Photo/Sports Mole
Finally, he joined Spanish La Liga’s Valladolid in August 2024 playing in the U-19 squad where he impressed and was elevated to the senior squad.
Bah’s first game in the senior squad started with a home game against Real Sociedad in September 2024. Although they ended in a draw, he doesn’t forget how great it felt having 21,000 people attend the match.
He had never seen such a crowd before in his life. His father Abdul Karim and his mother Umu watched the entire match in tears.
They couldn’t believe that their son was playing in La Liga at 18. He told BBC Africa Sport that playing for Valladolid cleared doubts in his mother’s mind.
He made a promise as a young boy that he would make his parents proud and this was just the beginning.
Is Juma Bah a Manchester City player?
January sealed Juma Bah Man City fate. Bah, who turns 19 soon, signed with the City after terminating his contract with Valladolid.
With his performance, Valladolid added a clause to permanently sign Bah and a $6.5 million release clause to his contract.
However, the teen from Sierra Leone pulled a surprise by terminating the deal in mid-January. He paid his buy-out fee as stipulated in his youth contract with Valladolid and signed with Manchester City.
18-year-old Juma Bah was loaned to French club Lens by Manchester City. Photo/Football Espana
Not even threats of a suit by the Spanish club made him reconsider his decision to rejoin the La Liga club.
He explained that he decided to cut ties with Valladolid without any external advice because of low pay.
Bah contended that he was the lowest-paid player in the senior squad which was ‘selfish.’ He further stated the club refused to engage his agent on a new contract.
Also, the club did not engage him because all it wanted was to keep him away from other well-paying clubs.
Jum Bah Man City signing in January 2025 took him to French club Lens, on loan. He is loving it so far and even enrolled in French lessons.
He is focused on giving his best to Lens saying his longtime dream of playing in Etihad is now a reality. Far away from Man City and Lens, he is also looking at his debut for his national home team, Leone Stars.
Leone Stars coach Mohammed Kallon named Bah in his squad for the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Kallon believes the Bah is an amazing defender.
