LASK signed Darboe from AS Roma: “An award for our club”

As reported in OÖN on June 28, LASK fixed the transfer of Ebrima Darboe. The 13-time Gambian team player comes on loan from AS Roma, the athletes secured a purchase option.

“The fact that we were able to bring Ebrima to LASK is an award for the development of our club. To have a Roma player in our ranks is something special,” said sporting director Radovan Vujanovic proudly. “He’s an excellent technician and I’m looking forward to seeing him play in the LASK dress soon.”

For the central midfielder, LASK is “a great challenge. I’m looking forward to getting to know a new club, a new league and a new country. I want to take the next steps in my development here.”

As a boat refugee to Sicily

The path to becoming a professional footballer was incredibly difficult for Darboe: at the age of 14 he left his home country of Gambia alone for Libya, from where he sailed to Italy. After six months he landed in Sicily as a refugee and was admitted to Italy as an unaccompanied minor. He joined the football club Young Rieti in 2016, where he was discovered by AS Roma. In 2019 he played in the Youth League for the first time, after his 18th birthday Darboe signed a professional contract and sat on the Serie A bench for the first time against AC Milan.

He had to wait a year and a half for his league debut: on May 2, 2021 he came on as a substitute against Sampdoria Genoa (0:2). Four days later he played against Manchester United in the second leg of the Europa League semifinals.

The fact that there were only six Series A appearances was due to a cruciate ligament tear. This is also the reason why LASK got the chance to sign Darboe on the second try. Because a year ago, the athletes had been interested. At that time, AS Roma is said to have insisted on a transfer fee of 15 million euros for the possibility of a fixed change after a loan season – far too much for LASK.

Despite the contract until 2026, no Leiberl at Mourinho

Darboe picked up the knee injury in preparation for last season and was back on the bench for the first time eight rounds before the end of last season. Coach Jose Mourinho no longer brought him to action.

Darboe played no role in the Portuguese’s plans for the coming season, although his contract was only extended to 2026 in December 2021. Because AS Roma now reportedly only asked for a tenth of the purchase option compared to the 15 million euros in the previous year, LASK struck.