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Red Bulls’ Lloyd Sam could have a future as a soccer agent – Metro US

Red Bulls’ Lloyd Sam could have a future as a soccer agent

Red Bulls’ Lloyd Sam could have a future as a soccer agent
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Meet Lloyd Sam, the soccer agent.

Most MLS fans know Sam as one of the league’s top wing players, the New York Red Bulls midfielder who uses his speed and occasional audacity on the ball to make him a handful for most defenders. But Sam apparently has an eye for talent and has recently helped the club make a very big signing.

Sam was the one who alerted the Red Bulls front office about Gideon Baah, setting the wheels into motion for his move from Europe to MLS.

Someone cut Sam a commission check, pronto.

Last October, Sam made his debut with Ghana’s national team, coming on in the second half of the match against Canada played at Washington, D.C.’s RFK Stadium. At that national team camp, Sam played with Gideon Baah, the central defender who the Red Bulls this week revealed as their biggest new signing of the offseason. Immediately, he noticed something he liked both on and off the field.

When he came back to the MLS team, Sam told management about Baah, who was playing in Finland at the time. The Red Bulls scouted him and liked the player.

Fast forward four months and Baah figures to be the Red Bulls starting centerback on opening day. All because Sam noticed a player with talent who was ready for MLS.

“He thought he was a guy with a lot of potential and was ready to move on from Finland and so that kind of put him on our radar,” Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch said.

“And then the more we watched him and the more we talked to him and different people that knew him, we thought we had a good person first. I think his abilities will fit well with what we like from the centerback position. And now it’s about getting him up to speed.”

Baah was reportedly pursued by Spanish giants Barcelona recently. At 24-years old, he appears to be a rising part of Ghana’s future with the national team and now perhaps a large role with his new club in New York.

Like Sam, the October match against Canada was also Baah’s international debut. He’s made 41 appearances over the past two years for HJK Helsinki in Finland.