When the BILD news outlet broke the story of a possible fraud case at the German club, Hamburg, it understandably went viral owing to the status of the player involved.
Bakery Jatta was at the time on his routine workout drills with teammates at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion just a day after they’d annihilated Nurnberg at the Max-Morlock-Stadion in a second division battle of one-time Bundesliga 1 clubs.
21-year-old Jatta was central to that outing in which they ended up running out 4-0 victors before the winger got subbed out of it, making way for Khaled Narey. It was Hamburg’s moment of get-set-go in the first match of a campaign to return to the Bundesliga1 where they failed to escape the claws of demotion the previous season.
The motion buttons are set in a run gaffer Dieter Hecking hope their invaluable Gambian attacker would help propel them to the big time after managing to ward off the bombardment of interest from a litany of Bundesliga top clubs which included, according to reports from the grapevine, Borussia Dortmund.
So when BILD claimed their prized asset might not truly be who is, suggesting he hoodwinked football fans into stardom, it was a piece that hurt The Red Shorts –Hamburg.
Media reaction to the claim was overwhelming partly because the player has been touted with moves to a lot of big European clubs.
Like all stories of this magnitude, it‘s a bitter pill to down for the parties named in the saga.
The Alex Springer AG owned tabloid insists it wasn’t tipped off by a source and instead did its own independent investigation to uncover “the truth”.
The publication went on to contest spelling of the forward’s first name, claiming the wideman’s full nomenclature is Bakary Daffeh giving a differing spelling to the first name Bakery.
Pushing to prove it has gathered evidence, BILD insists Jatta played for Gambia’s U-20s as Bakary Daffeh and scored the winning goal against Liberia in Monrovia five years ago prior to Gambia getting flung out of the African youth Championship qualifiers for fielding over-aged players.
The German news outlet ran a subsequent piece to the first story they believe blew up Jatta’s cover, featuring a collage of pictures of a player they said is the 21-year-old when he turned out for Senegalese clubs years ago before becoming a professional.
So How Did Jatta Got Entangled in this?
How the Hamburg star got mired in this web of controversy to this moment remains a puzzle. The story of how the wing-wizard arrived in Germany is in itself a sketchy one but there are theories it. The first one suggests the Gambian might have touched down in Berlin with legitimate papers but opted to tear his passport upon expiry of his visiting visa while another theory, which appears to be prevalent, hints he arrived in the European nation a migrant after crossing the precarious Mediterranean Sea via Libya having grown disillusioned over a never-seem-to-be-coming-true dream of getting spotted out by a football agent in Africa.
The latier story, which seems to be accepted by the majority, goes further to insinuate Jatta was housed in a refugee camp prior to being given the all-clear and placed under the care of live-in parents as a minor. It was at this stage that coaches at Hamburg summoned him for an audition having watched him in an informal refugees’ tournament.
Weeks on, he has already impressed gaffers there who offered him a minor’s deal with a strong conviction of tying him down to professional terms when he turns 18. However, German laws and the red tape involved in undocumented migrants being given deals led to a hearing at a juvenile court. A settlement was reached allowing Hamburg their wish –sign Bakery to a revised pro contract following a protracted legal wrangle as the sensation became the second Gambian migrant to sign with a German Bundesliga outfit after Ousman Manneh of Werder Bremen.
This happened in 2015 and fast forward to 2019, the Hamburg hit-man is battling allegations of fraud thrown at him by the BILD prompting an investigation by the German Football Association.
The inputs of either the Confederation of African Football or FIFA would be needed to ascertain the veracity of the newspaper’s claims which to an extent will have the Gambian football federation answering questions when the investigating body requests for clarification.
Ducor Sports, however, understands a couple of Senegalese sides are believed to be the forces behind the tale whom, we’re told, are exasperated over Hamburg’s non-compliance to their demands for development fee – a sum paid to a club help groom the player at a young age.
Notwithstanding the burden of the allegation hovering his head, Hamburg fielded Jatta in their recent emphatic triumph. Adding to that is the wave of support accorded to him by fans of the club and its captain Aaron Hunt.
“We are behind and you and we are like a family,” Hunt said in his message of support to the West African.
Bakery’s career future now hinges on the outcome of German FA’s investigations.
