When Amadou Sanyang arrived in Toronto in March 2009 he had no idea what to expect. The teenager had just left his family and friends behind in his homeland of Gambia to start his career as a professional footballer thousands of kilometers across the globe.

Now, 15 months on, he has settled in both on and off the pitch in his adopted home. “Toronto is a great city and it has become like home to me,” says Sanyang. “There are so many different cultures and there are a lot of Gambians here as well so it has been very easy to get used to living here.”

[inline_node:3658]“It was a very big move for me because it was the first time in my career that I would be leaving Gambia. I was comfortable playing back home but I knew that it was a good thing for me to move to Toronto. It was tough for me to leave my family and move to a different environment and I couldn’t believe what it was like here at first because it was so cold. I had never experienced anything like that. I do miss my family and friends but as a soccer player you know you can find yourself in any kind of environment. You have to take whatever comes your way.”

Sanyang was born in Bakau, Gambia in 1991 and is from the Mandinka tribe. From a young age, he had his mind set on becoming a professional soccer player, and describes his success so far as “a dream come true.”

“It was always the plan for me to be a soccer player since I was very young,” explains Sanyang. “Back in Gambia, soccer is one of the major sports that everybody plays. I grew up playing on the street with my brothers and have been playing the game for as long as I can remember. At school I would get out of class as quickly as possible so that I could get to the football pitch. My brothers used to tell me how important it is to get knowledge at school, but they always gave me the encouragement to stick with the game and improve my skills.”

“When I was seven years old I was a ball boy with Real de Banjul. I would go and watch the team practice and fetch all of the balls for them. From there I became a member of their youth team and that is when I knew I wanted to make a career playing the game.”

Sanyang was catching the attention of the soccer community in Gambia as he progressed through the youth ranks with Real de Banjul, and after breaking into the first team, he was named the best midfielder in the Gambian League in 2007.

After spending 10 years with the club, Sanyang was ready to take the next, and biggest step of his life. He headed to Florida for a preseason trial with Toronto FC, hoping to impress enough to earn a contract with the team. He did just that.

After agreeing to sign with the Reds, Sanyang played for the Academy team in the Canadian Soccer League until he was eligible to play in Major League Soccer when he turned 18. That moment came in August last year, when he came off the bench on his birthday in the 1-1 draw against New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. He went on to make seven appearances in his first season, a number that he has already passed in the opening third of this campaign.

“It has been a great season for me so far,” he says. “I have seen a lot of changes and I am working hard in practice. Everything is going well for me. Technically I think that there are things I have to work on but I am getting better every day. The coaches are encouraging me and giving me more confidence after every game.”

“I am feeling comfortable with the players in the midfield and everyone talks to me all the time during matches and also in practice. I am learning from guys like Martin Saric and Julian de Guzman. They are both experienced players and I learn from them by watching them in practice. Julian played for Deportivo so it has been great to play alongside him and also against him in training.”

“The game here is much faster than in Gambia. Since being here I have been able to learn a different style of play. It has been good to work with a lot of different people and see tactics and training sessions that I hadn’t experienced before at home.”

Sanyang’s early season form is even more impressive due to the fact that he missed three weeks of preseason with a facial injury sustained during the team’s time in Bradenton, Florida. “It was difficult for me because the guys were going through preseason and I had to sit out. When I was able to play again I had to do my best to catch up with them as soon as I could, but now I feel fit and it is all good.”