Alphonso Davies PLAYER
BIOGRAPHY
HAPPY
DAVIES
Words:Nick BidwellAlphonso Davies – aka Phonzie – is having
the time of his life after rising from a refugee
camp to Champions League winner
T
he Canadian city of Edmonton,
where Bayern Munich’s
increasingly impressive
roadrunner left-back Alphonso
Davies spent his formative years, is not
thesortofplacewhereeagle-eyed
European club scouts normally prospect
for round ball excellence.
As far as the vast majority of the
Edmonton populace is concerned, ice
hockey is the only sport to raise the
pulse. In these parts, the stick and the
puck are nothing less than a religion,
with fans dedicated to their beloved
Edmonton Oilers, who in the1980s won
a string of Stanley Cups (the Holy Grail
of the National Hockey League) and
featured the inimitable skills of Wayne
Gretzky, almost unanimously considered
thegreatestplayerofalltime.
Growing up in Edmonton, young
Alphonso – nicknamed Phonzie – was
to all intents and purposes a million
miles from the professional football
mainstream. But what an expert
navigator he has proven to be,
successfully going from the “Free
Footie” programme in his hometown- an afterschool indoor league for
disadvantaged inner city kids – to
the heady heights of a clean sweep
(Champions League, Bundesliga and
DFB Cup) with Bayern last term.
Only one full season as a Bayern
starter and already elevated to the rank
of superstar. Not bad for a teenager
who was born and raised in a refugee
camp in Ghana. His rocketing market
worth tells its own story:18 months
after Bayern paid Vancouver Whitecaps
€11.5 million, he now would command
a fee seven or eight times that amount.
It is incredible just how quick his
ascent has been. At the start of last
season, he was still playing for Bayern’s
reserves in the German third tier. In
December 2019,Kickermagazine rated
him the tenth-best full-back in the
country. What a difference a few months
make – now he tops the charts.
Luck has been on his side too.
Without the long-term injuries to
Bayern centre-backs Niklas Sule and
Lucas Hernandez, which resulted in the
Austrian ace David Alaba sliding across
from left to centre-back, Davies may
still be on the sidelines. Destiny
invariably needs a helping hand.
While Davies has a long way to go to
emulate the gold-encrusted longevity
of “Gretzky The Great One,” there is
undoubtedly something very special
about the teenager. Like Gretzky in his
heyday, Alphonso plays the game with a
twinkle in his eye. He does not perform
for the pay cheques or even for the