Talent calendar
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Aristide Bancé scored 28 goals in 67 games for Mainz 05 between 2008 and 2010, and today he describes this period as the “best time” in his career. 15 years later, the 41-year-old has long since ended his playing career, but has remained loyal to the Bundesliga club and is responsible for shaping the stars of the future in Africa. One of them is the 17-year-old center forward Alynho Haidara, who will join the Zero Fives next summer thanks to Bancé.
Until his 18th birthday in July next year, Haidara will stay with FC Mainz 05 de Jacqueville, which is easily recognizable as a partner club of the Conference League participant from Germany. Bancé founded the academy in 2022, and today it consists of 50 footballers aged a maximum of 19 years who, in addition to their sporting training, also attend a vocational school. A team from the academy takes part in games in the third highest league in the Ivory Coast.
A contractually agreed collaboration has only existed for a little over a month; it was announced as part of Haidara’s engagement. “Our contact with Aristide Bancé was never lost during and after his active career. We were therefore involved early on about his plans to develop the academy. Aristide Bancé has set up a remarkable project there, which is initially primarily a social project. It gives many, often destitute, local young people access to football and school training, which is also viewed holistically locally. This is the basis for the development of outstanding footballing talents, which are also suitable for Mainz 05 can be interesting,” explained sports director Christian Heidel.
Haidara is the second player to come to Germany from the academy in the Ivory Coast coastal town after Mokesse Bamba, who has already played eight games for the second team in the Regionalliga Südwest this season. His development potential is considered to be significantly higher than that of his predecessor – not least due to the fact that he made it onto the “Guardian” list of the world’s 60 greatest talents this year.
Alynho Haidara: Star at the U17 Africa Cup – Needs few chances
In any case, Haidara can look back on an extremely strong year in 2025. His star rose at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations in April when he scored seven goals in six games, helping his team to third place and winning the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer. The attacker scored four goals alone in the opening game against the Central African Republic (6:1). His performances earned him a nomination for the CAF Men’s Young Player of the Year, where he narrowly lost out to Othmane Maamma, who won the U20 World Cup with Morocco that year.
Mainz 05 can look forward to a versatile striker next year. He is an old-school attacker and yet his influence goes beyond scoring goals,” explained Ivory Coast U17 coach Bassiriki Diabaté. “He is our anchor in attack, the key to our attacking play. With a mobile but sometimes lackluster midfield, his ability to tie up defenders is crucial. He creates space, draws defenders towards him and maintains our attacking rhythm.”
Haidara regularly moves to the wings, but still has good positional play in the box, an excellent instinct for goal and a strong finish, which means that he doesn’t need a lot of time and space. Would you like proof? For Haidara, nine ball contacts were enough for the seven goals at the U17 Africa Cup: three times he took the assist from his teammates directly, three times he was successful from the penalty spot. Acceptance and another contact were only added once. In addition, Haidara held his nerve from the spot in all three penalty shootouts in the quarterfinals, semifinals and third place game.
Haidara will be able to demonstrate these skills in Mainz starting next summer. There, where a successor to Jonathan Burkardt is desperately being sought after his departure in the summer. Although it is not yet certain whether the youngster will immediately play for the first team, his name will certainly appear on the big football stage in the medium term. And ideally, Haidara will be a great role model for all children and young people in Jacqueville, where Christian Heidel and former sports director Martin Schmidt have already been declared honorary citizens of the city.
Every day from December 1st to 24th, Transfermarkt will present a talent from the 2008 or 2009 vintage from a different country. Sponsors, data scouts and users act as experts and report interesting facts about 24 young players in our talent calendar who you should keep a close eye on in the future. For example with the TM Watchlist.