The Gambian Forward, Mustapha Carayol marked his debut at new club Leeds United with a bang after scoring a stunning 25-yard strike at Elland Road on Saturday in the FA cup third rounds against Rotherhalm, before France born striker, Souleymane Doukara sealed a 2 – 0 victory for the championship side.
Carayol joined Leeds on a loan deal 24 hours before the game on Saturday from Middlesbrough following his return from another loan spell at Huddersfield Town, who decided to pull the trigger on a clause in his loan contract, which became available to the Terriers in the January window.
The 27-year-old was given another opportunity by his former boss, Steve Evans now at Leeds, under whom he played as a teenager on loan at Crawley Town eight years ago and he admits that life under the volatile Scot helped to toughen him up.
The Gambian forward was an instant hit on his debut at Elland Road, crushing all doubts about his prowesses. Evans took him on despite reservations from the controversial Leeds chairman Massimo Cellino, who was unsure about the signing and the Scottish manager admitted that Carayol wasn’t one of his initial transfer targets, but didn’t think twice about approaching Massimo Cellino and attempting to get the green light for the deal when he discovered the winger was available.
“Last weekend, the president and myself firmed up a clear list of intended targets for the January transfer window, including both permanent and loan signings,” Evans told the club’s website.
“I have to be honest with the Leeds United family and say that Mustapha Carayol was not on that original list as I only became aware yesterday from Aitor Kaaranka at Middlesbrough that Carayol had been asked to be made available for loan.
“I discussed this with my staff, looked at the fact we need to add some genuine pace to this group, and it became obvious that he add something to the group.
“I spoke with the president late yesterday and was given permission by Aitor at Boro to speak to Mustapha.”
Despite his late arrival just hours before the game on Saturday, the Gambian international was pitched straight into the starting XI for the FA Cup third round tie against Rotherham and made an immediate impact as his pace “caused havoc” in the opening stages of the game, before grabbing the first goal on the stroke of half-time,and his delighted manager wasn’t surprised one bit to see the 27-year-old impress on his first start at his new club.
“I know what Carayol can do,” he said. “The wonderful thing about Carayol is he can play on either flank, he can play as a striker, he can play in the hole.
“You just need to love Mustapha. I’ve kept in touch with that boy for a lot of years.
“Bridcutt (Liam) you need to love as well. I think that’s just the way these kids are brought up these days.
“If they need a kiss right on the lips to make them play, I’m not keen on that, but I’ll give them a kiss.”
Carayol himself took to Twitter after the game to express his delight. “Delighted to score a debut goal,” he wrote. “Boys dug in for a hard-fought game. Thanks for all the messages, really appreciate it.
The Gambian also shared his delight at scoring against the Millers yet again, having scored against them two weeks ago before his departure from Huddersfield.
“I played against Rotherham two weeks ago and scored from 30 yards, so I kept saying to myself during the game ‘If I get a chance to hit the ball, I’m going to hit it’. I’m happy that it has flown in again,” Muzzy said in an interview with the Club’s official website.
Carayol was aware of the stick he had received from Leeds fans, who targeted him on Twitter for joining them from their rivals, Middlesborough, but the forward has shown he has a thick skin and wasn’t distracted by their trolls.
“I’m happy I pleased some of the fans,’ said Carayol.
“I was getting a bit of a battering on Twitter because I was coming from Middlesbrough and stuff like that.
“I’m not really someone who takes things personally on Twitter. Most of the time I don’t even read the comments. It’s part of football that you’re going to have people who write you off, but I just worry about what I do.
“Hopefully I can show them what I can do and chip in with a few more goals between now and the end of the season. I’m going to keep working hard and hopefully you will see the performances on the pitch. The gaffer just said to me ‘go out there and be positive. I’ve played for him before and he knows what type of player I am.”
Asked about kicking on during the second half of the season on the back of an eight game unbeaten run, Carayol added: “It was a really tough game on Saturday. We had to dig in and the result was the most important thing.
“Every game from now until the end of the season is going to be tough. We have to be positive and try to win every game to have a chance of making the top six.
“I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be really glad if we can come away from Ipswich with another positive result.”
