Tcherno Jamanca hits 34 goals, catches eye of three national sides | OneFootball

FC Porto secured the national under-17 title on Sunday, the dragons’ first at this level since 2011/12, thanks to a 2-2 draw away to Benfica. The point that sealed the trophy for the blue and whites came courtesy of Tcherno Jamanca, who scored a brace that not only reinforced his status as the top scorer of José João’s team, but also of the final stage of the national youth championship. At 16, the striker has proved a nightmare for opposing defences, and the numbers confirm it: he has scored more goals (34) than games played this season (30, one of them already for the under-19s).

Naturally, such an impressive record has not gone unnoticed, and there are already three federations interested in securing Tcherno, looking to safeguard the future of a centre-forward with enormous room for improvement. But let’s take it step by step: the son of Guinean parents — his father also holds Portuguese nationality — Jamanca was born on 12 July 2009 in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, where his mother was working at the time.

At the moment, the forward holds a Guinean passport, which allows him to represent the Djurtus, and people close to the player have already been contacted by the federation, which is considering the possibility of calling him up immediately to the senior national team. Even so, after learning about Tcherno Jamanca’s background, the Senegalese federation has also begun making contact to assess the young FC Porto player’s willingness to represent the Lions of Teranga.

This process is also being monitored by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). According to information gathered by our newspaper, the striker has already begun the procedures to obtain Portuguese citizenship, as he has been living in Portugal for around 10 years. From a sporting point of view, the possibility of wearing the Portugal shirt appears to be the most appealing, but the other options are also being considered by Tcherno and his family.

At this stage, still only 16, Jamanca is mainly focused on continuing to develop at FC Porto, already with the prospect of stepping up to the under-19 squad in 2026/27. As for national teams, he will make a decision once the citizenship situation has been fully clarified.

At the same time, the dragons’ football structure knows it has a raw talent on its hands, which is why it moved to sign him to a professional contract in September last year. As he is underage, Tcherno Jamanca signed a deal valid for three seasons, but was immediately protected by a €10 million release clause. Barcelona are one of the giants already said to be keeping an eye on him…

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.