Football is full of bizarre moments, and Guinea’s Morlaye Sylla is the latest to find himself in the spotlight for the wrong reasons. The Arouca midfielder is one of the best players in this current Guinea team, and as important as he is, you would expect him to make the team for next year’s AFCON, but things have taken a different turn for the 25-year-old.
Morlaye Sylla has been officially dropped from Guinea’s AFCON squad after accusing teammates and the head coach of stealing the jersey he swapped with Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr. when they played against each other in a friendly last June, with Brazil winning 4-1.
Who is Morlaye Sylla?
Morlaye Sylla is a Guinean international who plays for Portuguese club Arouca as a midfielder. The 25-year-old has been making the rounds on social media after reports of a falling out with his coach went viral after accusing the head coach of theft involving a swapped shirt he got from Vinicius Jr. in their friendly match against the Samba Boys last June.
The Conakry-born midfielder joined local team Espoirs Tanene as a youth team player in 2016 before switching to Europe to sign for Arouca later that year. However, he wouldn’t get any first-team experience until he returned to Guinea to join Fello Star.
He stayed with the club for a year before moving on to another Guinean team, CO Coyah, where he stayed until 2019, when he moved to Horoya. He is expected to continue playing at the club until 2022.
Morlaye Sylla, who played football in his native Guinea for five years, returned to Portugal last year to sign with Arouca. He has been honing his skills with the team ever since. He wears the number 2 jersey for the Primeira Liga team.
Why was Morlaye Sylla dropped from Guinea’s AFCON squad?
As talented as Morlaye Sylla is, he will sadly not be a part of Guinea’s AFCON campaign next year. The talented midfielder was involved in a fallout with his national team manager over a shirt theft, resulting in his being dropped from the squad that will represent Guinea at the tournament.
Brazil played a friendly game with Guinea last June, with the Samba Boys winning the game 4-1, thanks to goals from Joelinton, Rodrygo, Eder Militao, and Vinicus Jr. In high spirits, the latter agreed to a shirt swap with Morlaye Sylla.
However, the Arouca midfielder couldn’t find the shirt in the dressing room, causing him to point fingers at his teammates and head coach. His refusal to apologize to the manager has cost him a place in the Guinea team to represent their country at next year’s AFCON.
The AFCON is already seeing some drama, with Andre Onana stuck in a limbo between playing for Cameroon or sticking with Manchester United for the duration of the tournament.
Real Madrid also seem to be in trouble after Brahim Diaz switched his allegiance to Morocco after initially representing Spain.
