David Datro Fofana. Please Chelsea... please don't mess this one up. He could be a story for the ages. Indeed, for Norwegian football he already he is. But now in Chelsea's hands, it's all a question of whether the momentum can continue...
Better than Erling Haaland? Not technically. Not in football nous. But in terms of natural talent, there's many inside the Norwegian game, indeed even inside Molde, who would reply with the affirmative. Fofana is as good a raw talent they've seen in Norway. And when you learn the backstory, it's difficult to understand anyone saying otherwise.
"His first training session was absolutely incredible," says former Manchester United youth teamer Magnus Eikrem Wolff, who's struck up a friendship with the 20 year-old. "He put the ball into the goal in a really weird way that I've never seen before, fooled the keeper with one touch and just knocked it into the goal.
"He does things we have never seen before at the stadium here."
Tromso skipper Ruben Yttergård Jenssen admitted recently: "He Fofana ... I don't know how they found him, but he was absolutely raw to me. I think he must be one of the best that has been in the Eliteserien."
He was rejected. Multiple times. Not by European clubs. Nor scouts. But by local academies at home in Abidjan. He would trial. He would test. But the offers never came. And as such, Fofana learned the game by playing street football.
"I was shaped in the streets. I'm not like the others, not educated. I am not a product of the academies. Everything comes from the streets," Fofana recalled. "I was confident in my talent, but they (the academies) said 'no'. They said 'you are good, but something is missing'. I wasn't what they were looking for.
"I went from one place to another but got the same message..."
However, eventually Fofana caught a break. Abidjan City, of Ivory Coast's third division, showed an interest. With the former international and Olympiakos midfielder Marco Ne in charge, contact was established. Though nothing was promised.
But then Fofana's older brother took a call from a club official. A street game was to be played, but Abidjan City were down a player. Fofana had his opportunity. And he's never looked back.
"I got the chance and crushed everyone. I looked at Marco Né and saw his jaw drop. I saw banknotes in his eyes!" laughed Fofana.
That was barely four years ago. From rejection. Then a year into his time with Abidjan. Fofana was being capped by Ivory Coast. Soon after the offers from Europe came. And he took up a proposal to train with Molde.
"He's a really exciting young boy, a prospect we had been following for a long time," says Molde coach Erling Moe. "David was actually visiting in March 2020, but we had to send him back home. We kept in touch and he showed nice development down there and made it into the national team squad of the Ivory Coast."
After that initial visit, Fofana - at 18 - agreed to make Molde his first European club. The striker choosing the Norwegians ahead of bigger contract offers from France.
"I had some incredible offers from France, the salary and everything was much bigger," he says. "But I preferred to come here. Adjust myself. If I had gone to France, I could probably adapt, but I told myself that it was going to be more difficult than here.
"The French league is tough. So I thought that Molde was a nice club. They could teach me anything here. I could even learn English."
Indeed Fofana, now barely 18 months into his time in Norway (where he has been residing in Erling Haaland's former home), is comfortable giving his interviews in English.
"My league is the English one," he says. "I want to go to the Premier League. If I get there, I'll never leave. I have to end up there. If Molde can send me directly to England, that's fine with me. I adapt to everything. I will succeed there. Then it's over."
Music to the ears of Chelsea's fans. But is it all too soon for Fofana? At a mooted €12m, he will become the Eliteserien's richest ever transfer. A deal you can understand Molde accepting.
But as Moe says, Fofana remains very raw. He chose Molde as he was confident of a regular game. At Chelsea, that's a different matter. And beyond gametime, it's the personal commitment made by Moe and his staff which has benefited the Ivorian the most. Will he get the same at Cobham?
"We all would have missed our family if we had been alone in another country. So it is our job to make the missing as little as possible, but it will always be there," says Moe.
"We must remember that he is a young boy who has made the journey from his home country up here. He and we spent last year integrating him properly - with language, food, sleep and recovery. Now anything is possible.
"He has been willing to learn and adopted what we want, with steady steps. He has been an easy man to work with."
Molde managing director Ole Erik Stavrum adds: "I think Erling Moe and the guys in his team have probably spent more time on 'Foffa' than all the other players put together since he arrived."
Now that commitment from Moe has earned Molde a record payday. And of course, the fulfillment of a dream for Fofana.
With the deal set to be rubberstamped, Chelsea are getting something special. A raw talent. One with an unrelenting drive. And with an infectious character to boot. In terms of anecdotes, we've barely scratched the surface here: there's the story of Fofana showing a pirated stream on Instagram so family back home could see him in action. There's his battles with Mum, who wasn't convinced he could make it as a footballer. And there's the personal vow to find every coach who rejected him back home just to say 'look at me now'.
David Datro Fofana. As a football story, this is one for the ages. And if Chelsea can get it right, it will only get better. Please Chelsea, please, just don't mess this one up.
