Ex-Schalke talent in an interview
It is the dream of many footballers to play in the English Premier League. Many German talents are also trying to do so on the island, including goalkeeper Jordan Amissah. At the age of 16, the 21-year-old switched from Borussia Dortmund’s youth to Sheffield United and matured there to become a professional. In the second half of the current season, the former Schalke pupil is a loan player in the Burton Albion squad. At Transfermarkt he talks about his youth in Gelsenkirchen and Dortmund and his staying power in England.
Everyone has experiences in their life that trigger a variety of positive emotions even years after the actual event. Jordan Amissah had such an experience on August 26 of last year. At that time he was sitting on the bench at the English second division team Sheffield United and dreamed of his first appearance in professional football. With just 15 minutes left in the game between Sheffield and Luton Town it became clear that goalkeeper Wes Foderingham would have to be substituted through injury when the score was 1-1. It was the hour of the young German. A lot went through Amissah’s mind at that moment, but he also knew: From now on, what counts is a clear head and what you’ve learned in training. He got a big chance to excel. He skilfully deflected a shot from Luton Town over the crossbar and the crowd went wild. A few minutes later it was over.
“When I think about this game, I just feel pure happiness. It ended up being just under 15 minutes, but it made all the hard work since I was a child worth it,” says Amissah, saying he spoke to Foderingham about exactly that situation. “Before the game, I joked with Wes and was like, ‘Don’t hurt yourself.’ He said: ‘Your debut will be in a different stadium. Luton stadium is very small, cramped and you have the fans right behind you. No fun for a young goalkeeper.’ Before the substitution, my team-mates came to me and made me nervous. As I walked towards the gate, I just thought to myself: Showtime, here we go.”
Amissah’s way to England: “Sporty home” Schalke, unpleasant time at BVB
The Herne-born goalkeeper, who is almost two meters tall, took his first steps in football at SV Holsterhausen-Herne and VfL Bochum before Amissah moved to FC Schalke 04, where he played for six years. The Royal Blues are still his club for the 21-year-old today. “I already call Schalke my sporting home. For me as a Schalke fan there was nothing bigger than playing for this great club when I was young. As a result, Manuel Neuer was also my first sporting role model. I saw him in the game against FC Porto back then. That evening I said to myself as a child: I want to be like that one day. During my time at Schalke I was lucky enough to be able to present him with a collage. As a thank you, I got a jersey from him, which I’m still proud of,” says Amissah.
I would be lying if I said: Yippie, I’m playing for BVB now.
But if you have such close ties to Schalke 04 as he does, why take this next step in 2015 in the youth of rivals Borussia Dortmund? “Schalke planned a change in the goalkeeper position,” explains Amissah. “For example Marcel Lotka, with whom I played at S04, also had to go. I would be lying if I said: Yippie, I’m playing for BVB now. Rather, I just wanted to stay in the Ruhr area and play football. At that time I went to the comprehensive school Berger Feld, which has a cooperation with Schalke 04. I was probably the only black and yellow player at that time,” said the goalkeeper with a laugh.
He doesn’t have good memories of the time at BVB in particular. It didn’t really go well in terms of sport, it was only enough for an assignment in the B-Junior Bundesliga. But his skills were still undisputed and he received inquiries from England. Amissah says: “Both Sheffield and Aston Villa invited me to try out. With Sheffield in particular, I had the impression that they absolutely wanted me and were also showing me a perspective. During the week of trial training, I only trained with the U23s and the pros. What particularly impressed me was the proximity between professionals and youngsters. While in Germany the pros are sometimes very arrogant towards youth players, it’s completely different in England. Which is also because everything happens at one and the same training ground. From the under-9s to the pros, a clear sense of unity is conveyed and nobody feels left out. That ensures that as a youth player you can see exactly where things could go for you and are extra motivated.”
Amissah on homesickness for England move: ‘Cried to sleep’
Amissah openly admits to being homesick in the early days in Sheffield. He says: “For the first few weeks I cried myself to sleep. You leave everything behind in Germany and you are all alone in England, that does something to you. But I had an amazing host family who helped me settle into Sheffield. Giving up was out of the question for me because my parents taught me never to give up. And it was exactly in those moments that I remembered the recorder lessons in elementary school, I hated them but still went through with it,” says Amissah with amusement and also laughing as he remembers what he bought with his first professional salary. “They were designer shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti. It was only shoes, but I was so proud of those things. They’re kind of tattered now, but I still have them.”
Perseverance on his part was rewarded, and Amissah advanced to the pro roster. Although Amissah was only number three in the Blades roster at times, he was recognized on the street. This underscored the importance of football in the city, as Sheffield is considered a football-crazy city, also because Sheffield FC, founded in 1857, is considered the oldest football club in the world. Today, next to United, Sheffield Wednesday is the best-known club from the city. “I still remember the moment when complete strangers approached me in the middle of the city and asked me how I was doing, as I was the goalkeeper from Dortmund. At that moment I was just like: Wow, they know me little form. Especially on home game days you realize how much the city loves and lives for United. Football is celebrated here.”
Head-on, I feel a lot further than my peers.
Amissah has now been living in England for five years, which has also caused him to change as a person. “I’m actually happy about every conversation in German, because it’s easy to forget certain words, and the people from here now tell me that I’ve adopted their English accent. If you move abroad early as a young player, then you have to grow up quickly. In my head, I feel a lot further than my peers, but that’s also because I have a clear plan and I’m following it. So when I was 18 or 19, I never had the urge to have a party every week. I’ve matured and grown up,” says the 21-year-old.
Amissah on Henderson’s tips and dreaming of playing for Ghana
His time in England has also changed him from a sporting point of view, with Amissah benefiting in particular from Dean Henderson, who was loan goalkeeper at the time and is now Nottingham goalkeeper. “Dean was and is like a mentor to me. He gave me an incredible amount of training tips and we often went out to eat together. He also gave me some advice that I’m following. He said: ‘It’s easy to lose focus, but hard to resist the temptation. You can have everything in professional football, but you can also lose everything. The most important thing is that you always keep a clear head’.”
In this context, Amissah also expresses one of his major career goals: “My big dream is to play for the Black Stars (Ghana’s national team, ed.). I feel very connected to Ghana because of my roots and because part of my family still lives there. I know that I’m being watched, but in order to get into the national team circle I have to work on myself more,” stresses Amissah.
When asked if you really have to be that crazy to be a goalkeeper, he couldn’t help but laugh. “If you voluntarily let the ball shoot you in the face from close range, you must be a little crazy. There are reasons why everyone wants to be a field player and not a goalkeeper. As a keeper, you have to be loud and crazy. You have to fill this position with life and identify with it. You have to convey lightness to your teammates and make it clear with your presence: “Guys, don’t worry, I’m cleaning up,” explains Amissah.
Amissah: “If you’re a goalie, you know what you’re getting yourself into”
However, behind this lightness, as Amissah makes clear, there is a lot of work. “It takes a lot of work to build up a charisma that instills respect or even fear in every opponent. I keep setting myself new goals, which roughly contain the questions: What can I do? Where am I going? And what do I have to do to get there? I’m currently working on my drive and explosiveness. I would like to make progress in these areas. In my opinion, mental strength plays an important role. If you’re a goalkeeper, you know what you’ve gotten yourself into. You are the focus of every action, and depending on the situation you need the mental strength, sometimes more, sometimes less. But it should be available at all times.”
Amissah learned that football in England always has to be associated with luxury and glamor during his loan spells at AFC Guiseley and Spennymoor Town in the sixth-rate National League North. “When I went on loan to get game practice, I had to hear: Where are you going, where did you end up? At first I also thought: what’s the point of a loan like this? I’ve now changed my mind significantly. Many professional footballers are out and about in the supposedly amateur leagues, and you can tell how much football is lived in these leagues. When we played in York, there were suddenly several thousand spectators in the stadium.”
There are many small stadiums where you have the fans breathing down your neck, they insult you and you get a beer with every action. And somehow I think that’s awesome, because it shows that we’re all in the stadium because of one thing in common: because we love football.”
Amissah on tough start at Burton: “Changed with different signs”
In the winter, Amissah went on loan again. He originally wanted to gather as much match practice as possible at the English third division club Burton Albion by the end of May and, above all, prevent the club from having to start the bitter transition to fourth division. He was allowed to keep goal for the first two games in the cup and league, but then the club decided to add an experienced goalkeeper in Craig MacGillivray.
Meanwhile, Amissah has to be content with the place on the bench again. No reason for the 21-year-old to let it drag him down. “Of course I switched to Burton with different signs. It was clearly discussed with me that I would get my seasons and that I would be scheduled as a regular keeper. Otherwise I would have stayed in Sheffield. It would be the easiest thing to say I’m fed up, but that’s not in my nature. I know that at some point my chance will come and I’m working towards it. My path has never been straightforward, and if necessary, I just work for my luck.”
Interview: Henrik Stadnischeko
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