Shanghai (AFP)

In 2014, he made the headlines of the international press, which accused him of being 41 years old instead of 17: Cameroonian footballer Joseph Minala today deplores a controversy which "slowed down" his career.

Currently on loan to Qingdao Huanghai FC (Chinese 1st division), the player, still under contract with Lazio Rome (Italian Serie A), does not wish to dwell on all this "false information" conveyed at the time.

Young hope of the Roman club, Minala had to face scathing comments on social networks after the publication of articles questioning her age.

They claimed, without proof, that the teenager was actually ... in his forties.

His thirty-something features and his imposing build had helped to give credit to this rumor.

Before the Italian federation conducts an investigation and definitively exonerates the midfielder.

"I had opportunities in certain clubs. But it was not done because of this affair which slowed down my career and which (still) slows down my career", explains to AFP Joseph Minala, today 24 years old.

"It's an image that some people unfortunately have on me. I had the opportunity to go to France, to go to Paris Saint-Germain at the time. But it didn't happen", regrets he.

Joseph Minala is currently in Suzhou (eastern China), where his Qingdao Huanghai team is playing in a health "bubble" intended to prevent Covid-19 contamination.

"I would have made another career" without this controversy, he explains by telephone.

"Sometimes some people prefer to ignore that I am a good player, and only emphasize that aspect of me."

- Baker -

His professional career worthy of a novel, however, commands respect.

A promising young footballer, he was spotted in Cameroon by a former professional player turned agent.

The latter promises him a try at AC Milan.

His parents then spent "a lot of money" to finance the 14-year-old teenager's trip to Italy.

But the dream of young Joseph collapses once he arrives on the platform of a Roman station.

"I was told that they would come and pick me up to do the test at AC Milan. But I waited an hour, an hour and a half, and still no one was there," he recalls. .

"I was abandoned at the station with my two suitcases and a phone without a chip in it. It was a scam that I never understood."

With no place to go, Joseph Minala then went to the police.

"I was so disappointed that I asked to be repatriated to my country. But as I was an unaccompanied minor, they took me to the hospital for exams. Then they took me to the hospital. have placed in a social center, ”he explains.

"This is where my adventure began."

Joseph Minala keeps his football going by joining the reception center team, which participates in an amateur championship in the Rome area.

At the same time, he follows vocational training in bakery.

- "Burst out of anger" -

"Today, I am a good baker. Maybe after my career, I'll open a bakery, you never know!", He laughs.

Agent Mino Raiola, who defends the interests of Paul Pogba in particular, then spots the player in this amateur championship and takes him to Naples, Edinson Cavani's club, where he will stay for a year.

After several tests (Juventus, Inter Milan, AC Milan), in 2013 he joined the Lazio U-19 team.

And following the controversy over his age, he was loaned for several seasons in Italian Serie B, before joining China.

Joseph Minala will stay there until the end of 2020 to play the season with Qingdao.

He still wonders about his future, his contract expiring next June with Lazio - for which he will only have made a few stealth appearances.

"I continue to make my life, despite everything that people have tried to do against me," said Joseph Minala, who hopes one day to be called up to the Cameroon team.

"A lot of people expected me to stop playing, to go crazy. But I didn't. I keep doing my job. I'm still in football."

© 2020 AFP