Kallon finds peace in Monaco

By Jacques Valstar

When Mohamed Kallon left FC Internazionale Milano for AS Monaco FC for a €5m fee in July 2004, he was looking for a quiet life.

Miserable season
The 25-year-old from Sierra Leone seemed to have spent much of the last decade travelling from club to club, and in the season before his move to Monaco, had served an eight-month ban for testing positive for a banned substance. As a result, the last thing he wanted was public attention.

Keeping quiet
"I am not afraid to talk to journalists, but I had so many problems last year, and I didn't want to talk too much about it," he told uefa.com in a rare interview. "It's also one reason why I decided to come to Monaco - to be quiet, have more playing time, and to forget about last year."

Goalscoring form
He has certainly done that in some style, with 17 goals in all competitions since his switch from Serie A to Ligue 1. With eleven of those goals having come in Ligue 1, he is only three adrift of Stade Rennais FC's Alexander Frei in the race to be the division's top scorer for the season.

New position
No small feat for a player adapting to a new position on the right, but according to Kallon, French football suits his style. "In Italy there are more tactics and pressure from journalists and fans," he said. "Here you are free to do what you want to do when you have the ball.

Quiet life
He added: "The stadium isn't always full but Monaco is a nice place to live - a nice city, with simple people who do not cause me any problems. I wish as many of them would come to league matches as they did to ones in the [UEFA] Champions league, but that depends on how the team is performing."

Ligue 1 test
With Olympique Lyonnais running away with the title, Didier Deschamps' side have been left to battle it out with Olympique de Marseille and LOSC Lille Métropole for second place, and much to Kallon's regret, their Champions League challenge ended with a last-16 defeat against PSV Eindhoven.

Teething trouble
"We were expecting to go through but that's football," he admitted, adding: "Monaco have great experience but it's almost a new team from last year. We are still getting used to each other. PSV Eindhoven have been together for several seasons. Give us a year and you'll see what we can do."

Wandering player
Having played for so many clubs since leaving Sierra Leone to pursue his footballing career at the age of just 15, Kallon has rarely been given the opportunity to settle in at a club. Indeed, between June 1997 and June 2001, he played for five different teams.

Inter discovery
Such is the life of many African footballers, as Kallon said: "In Africa, we have few opportunities to come to Europe due to non-EU rules. When you have a chance you must not hesitate. For me it came during a youth tournament in Sweden. The Inter scouts were in the stands and contacted me.

Career itinerary
"I moved to Lebanon, then Sweden, and then Inter," he remembered. "Then I played on loan at FC Lugano in Switzerland for 18 months. Then, I went to Bologna [FC], Genoa [1893], Cagliari [Calcio], Reggina [Calcio], Vincenza [Calcio] and came back to Inter for three years. I am 25, and have travelled a lot already."

Resting place
Hopefully the time has finally come for him to settle down and prove his worth with Monaco.