The makeshift ball is magnetised to his bare feet as he turns away from two markers, darting towards stones that serve as the goal. The handed-down kit which drowns his tout petit frame gets tugged from behind, but he shrugs that off and speeds on. Then comes the real challenge. The kid, who has yet to hit double figures in age, feels a heavy hit to his back and first ensures possession is still secure, before getting a shot off. A young Naby Keita has scored, and as he celebrates, he quickly scans the car that impeded him in the build-up. “This was a normal kind of game,” the midfielder exclusively tells Goal as he retraces his football-centric childhood in Koleya, an area of Guinea capital’s Conakry.

“We would play anywhere there was open space, which was often on the street and we would have to dodge the cars!

“I was bumped so many times, but I kept going because I never wanted to lose possession. Nothing could separate me from the ball and I learnt so much from my experiences on the street. “We played with whatever we could and I would have nothing on my feet, or sometimes, play with old, damaged shoes,” Keita continued after breaking into the 2017 Goal 50, which ranks the 50 best players in the world of the past year and will be revealed in full on Tuesday November 14.