Jose Mourinho has shared a brilliant promise he made to young Roma forward Felix Afena-Gyan before he scored his first two professional goals on Sunday.
Appearing as a 74th-minute substitute against Genoa, the Ghanaian forward opened his account eight minutes later, firing the ball into the bottom left corner.
He then made it 2-0 in the fourth minute of stoppage time. The 19-year-old unleashed an unstoppable effort from distance into the right corner of the goal.
It was just his third professional appearance for Roma. He also featured as a substitute against Cagliari and AC Milan last month.
The 2-0 victory moves Mourinho’s side up to fifth in the Serie A table. They are currently three points away from the Champions League places.
Mourinho promise to Roma starlet Afena-Gyan
After the match, Mourinho revealed he had promised Afena-Gyan a pair of “really expensive” boots – and was reminded of the promise by the player after the game.
He told DAZN (as per Football Italia) after the match: “I had promised to buy Felix the boots he really likes, which are really expensive, they cost over €800. So he ran over and told me not to forget!”
“Tomorrow morning, the first thing I do is buy him the boots.”
“I am sorry for Mister [Danielle] De Rossi [Primavera manager] and the Primavera squad, but Felix will stay with us. The Primavera work close to us, so Felix and another four or five players have come across to the senior squad.”
“What impressed me the most was his cool head in front of goal. If he is not in terms of technique fantastic, he does have a strong mentality.”
“You get these kids now who think they know everything, but he is humble and you can sense he just absorbs all this information from everyone around him. That’s fantastic.”
When do Roma next play?
Mourinho and Roma are next in action on Thursday evening. They face Ukrainian side Zorya in gameweek five of the Europa Conference League.
Victory will see Mourinho’s side progress to the knockout stages. Roma have won two, drawn one and lost one of their four games so far in this year’s competition.
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