Ignatius Ganago: Balotelli inspired me at Nice

RC Lens have signed young Cameroonian forward Ignatius Ganago from OGC Nice and they might have a troublemaker on their hands.

Ignatius Ganago came through the ranks of Ecole de Football in native Cameroon. OGC Nice was his first European club and he came in contact with Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli is different for different people, and Ganago certainly ranks him very high. There was reason to be, Balotelli was in exile from European top-flight football and back at basics.

In his two and a half year stay, the Italian scored 43 goals in 76 competitive outings. It certainly left a good impression on the now 21-year-old, who was in awe of the Italy international from the get-go.

“I was very happy, I liked [Mario] Balotelli a lot,” Ganago told FootMercato. “I liked his character. He inspired me. There was also Dante. During my first training with the pros, I took pictures with them. They were players I watched on TV in the Champions League!”

Plucked from obscurity, Ganago did not have the best of time at Allianz Riviera. The forward managed 62 competitive outings but only hit the back of the net 7 times. The Cameroon international has now joined fellow Ligue 1 side RC Lens in a €6 million transfer.

Reflecting on his time with Nice, the Douala native shared that he did not adapt to his new conditions which impacted his performances.

“I was very happy to be there, but it was not going the way I wanted on the pitch,” the forward added. “It was completely different from Cameroon; the climate, the way of playing, the training, the way of training…

“It was complicated, especially in terms of intensity. The thing is that in Cameroon I was the player we counted on the most, while [in Nice,] there were other players like me. We had to work more.”