Life was tough after leaving home at 13 - but Yves Bissouma is reaping rewards

Which is why Albion can expect a very grown-up 21-year-old as he adapts to life on and off the field in England.

The midfielder left his home and family in Cote d’Ivoire at 13, having played for local clubs in Abidjan, to pursue his football dreams at the Jean-Marc Guillou Academy in Bamako, Mali.

He knew for sure he wanted to become a professional footballer but only had a vague idea of where or how that would happen.

The Seagulls’ new signing recognises it was a tough time in his life – and one from which he and his family back home are now reaping the rewards.

Jean-Marc Guillou was a midfielder who played mainly for Angers and Nice, won 19 caps for France and started his nation’s first game at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

He was in the engine room when Michel Platini was emerging and before Alain Giresse, Jean Tigana and Luis Fernandez arrived to help take Les Bleus to two World Cup semi-finals and a European title.

Guillou had a varied career in coaching and management and was in charge of the Cote d’Ivoire national team at the turn of the century.

His African connection blossomed into the JMG Academy which now has several centres internationally.

Places are keenly sought after, helped by the fact several of its graduates have secured professional deals.

Without delving too deeply into rags-to-riches clichés, Bissouma recognises he came from a poor background and that some tough times in the boarding school type set-up at the academy were endured rather than enjoyed with that vision of bringing more comfortable times to his family as the incentive.

According to its own website, the ratio of those accepted for places at the JMG Academy works out at about one for every 1,000 applicants.

Bissouma made it through two stages of selection and has used it as a pathway to first Ligue Un in France, now the Premier.

He told The Argus: “It wasn’t easy. At the start we played without shoes. We didn’t have any.

“I was there when I was 13. I did five or six years there and learnt a lot.

“That was where I learnt to play football. I mean real football, not street football.

“I spent most of my formative years there. You don’t just learn about football. You learn about life outside.

“You have got to be a man. I grew up very quickly.

“I did a test, a camp, in Cote d’Ivoire. From there they chose 11 players to go to Bamako.

“So we left, the 11 of us. From those 11 they picked five and I was one of the five. It was from there that it all started.

“As I grew up, I played for a club called AS Real de Bamako, who were linked to the academy. After that I went to Lille.

“They were really hard years at the academy. They were full-on years, you could say.

“You had to be really strong in your head.

“Thanks to God I was able to understand certain things about life, about football.”

He was the centre of attention at Albion’s impressive training complex this week after signing for what is believed to be an eight-figure fee.

Like the Seagulls themselves, he has come a long way in the last eight years.

He said: “I was 13. Leaving your parents at that age isn’t easy.

“At the start I missed them because you get up, you don’t see Mum and Dad.

“But with time and the experience of life you get, I understood that I had to forget about missing them and to concentrate on my work.

“I understood that quite quickly.

“If I wanted to help my family, I had to forget that I missed Mum and Dad and concentrate on work. That is what I did.

“I have my brothers and sisters and cousins back home as well.”

Bissouma recalls Adama Traore being the best player at the academy. That’s Traore the current Monaco midfielder rather than the Middlesbrough winger of the same name.

He recalled: “To be honest, at that stage my dream was to become a professional footballer but I didn’t really know where that would be.

“I was only 13. I dreamed of playing in a big club and slowly but surely I’ve got there.

“I watched the English league, the Spanish, the French a bit from time to time, not much. Mainly it was the English and Spanish leagues.”

Bissouma has said he wasn’t the best player as a kid.

“I quickly understood that you’re not born with qualities, that you have to work. So I preferred to be more brave than talented.”

Opponents might think he is under-selling himself by saying that. There are tournaments between different sections of the Guillou Academy.

Younes Zerdouk is manager of the centre in Belgium.

He told The Argus: “I had the good fortune to come across Yves during a tournament that we played in Bamako.

“I remember him clearly because he was a player who already had all the qualities to reach a high level.

“He would have been 15 at the time and he was the best of the best.”

It’s not realistic to expect Bissouma to be the “best of the best” in the Premier League.

But those who know him expect him to succeed.

And history suggests he won’t be frightened of a challenge.