The journey continues.
Kevin-Prince Boateng would concede, rather readily, that the disruptive exuberance of his younger years did rob him of much of the success that his enormous potential promised.
“I regret a lot of things,” he said in a 2016 interview. “When I was younger, I didn’t work hard because I could rely on my talent. That’s not the right path. I wish I’d worked harder, but then again, it was normal back then, since I was the boss of my town and had money and fame.”
That has set him on what feels like a quest to make up for lost time, a seemingly never-ending pursuit of happiness. It has turned Boateng into a journeyman, taking him to clubs in England, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Turkey. At times, Boateng’s stops have been quite rewarding, yielding some of the reliefs he has sought; at others, he has been left with palms full of, well, nothing.
Speaking of nothing, that’s just where some of Boateng’s career choices appear to have come from. His arrival at FC Barcelona in January 2019 had the watching world stunned — never mind the deal was only for a few months — but his latest transfer is quite a shocker, too, stretching our eyes a little wider in wonder.
He has been here before, in the Italian province of Lombardy, during his stints with AC Milan, where — between 2010 and 2013 — he played some of his bittersweet career’s best football. This time, though, Boateng’s destination is more modest: AC Monza, the new project of Silvio Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani — the men who made Milan, and who twice brought Boateng to San Siro. Also reuniting with the Ghanaian is Cristian Brocchi, his last manager at Milan.
He is, by any measure, a marquee signing – unlike, say, at Barcelona — and that esteemed status, at Boateng’s unveiling on Wednesday, was spelt out in the background, with Galliani — bald as always, and smiling ever so charmingly — by his side. There, running thinly yet boldly among the logos of Monza’s sponsors, was the player’s surname, hashtagged and with the ‘T’ styled to reflect his shirt number; an accompanying video immerses Boateng into Monza’s rich history of royalty, revealing and hailing him as the ‘PRINCE OF MONZA’.
In a city more famous for its motor racing circuit, Boateng — himself notorious for living the fast life, even if not at the wild pace which characterized his wild youth — will certainly stand out, especially as the biggest name on Monza’s roster. Boateng loves a good challenge, of course, and he would be eager to prove he isn’t just in for the ride or a mere PR gimmick. For a club that has never reached Serie A in its 108-year history, and which just returned to the second-tier after a 19-season absence, Monza’s ceiling — for a player like Boateng who, at 33, hasn’t lost his drive — hangs just right.
Shattering it, I suspect, would probably qualify as his greatest achievement in club football. And even if he doesn’t, hopefully, Boateng should find whatever it is that he seeks — contentment, fulfillment, or some other definition of success.
NY Frimpong — Daily Mail GH
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