Exciting West Brom prospect Dauda Iddrisa to return to club u17 World Cup bronze medal winner
Albion prospect Dauda Iddrisa will return to England with his under-17 World Cup bronze medal for a new appreciation of the sport's "competitiveness".
The Baggies teen, born in Brescia but a resident of West Bromwich since he was eight, represented his nation with distinction in the last few weeks at the showpiece event in Qatar.
The unfancied Italy youngsters went all the way to the semi-final but were seen off by Austria. Iddrisa and co, however, rallied to see off Brazil on penalties in the third-fourth placed play-offs to bag a bronze medal.
Iddrisa, who is 18 in January, may not be a regular name or face for some Albion fans yet but he has made his mark on the club he joined at under-11s. A versatile player, capable of operating in defence or midfield but more or the latter most recently, made his senior debut aged 16 under Carlos Corberan in the League Cup at Fleetwood.
He will be back among Leigh Downing's under-21s ranks with the Baggies in the coming days and look to get involved with the remaining fixtures before Christmas. Downing's youngsters are in action in their final Premier League International Cup group clash against youngsters from Valencia at Solihull Moors on Wednesday night.
"It was a surreal experience. We fought and gave our best and now we have written a page of history," former Phoenix Collegiate student Iddrisa wrote on Instagram.
"Glad to have experienced this with my team-mates and staff who have become family now.
"This is not the end. We'll be back stronger and better."
Iddrisa also showed his quality further forward in the global tournament with the winner in the round of 16 win over Uzbekistan, converting a cool far-post finish. He has caught the eye of onlookers during the tournament with five starts, including in three knockout ties.
In an exclusive interview with the Express & Star last season Dauda, who spoke little English when he first arrived, said how he regards Albion as "family" and hopes more experience comes his way ahead of one day breaking in as a first-team regular.
The midfielder told Flashscore in Qatar prior to bagging a bronze medal: "I think the lessons I'll take back to England is the competitiveness in every game.
"Even if that's the group stage or the semi-finals, every game is competitive and you must strive to win. I think I'm going to take that back and hopefully influence others to be as competitive as I am.
"Our togetherness in the national team is another thing I will take with me. I think that showed out on the pitch just how we celebrate together, how we play together.
"I think we're trying to first of all take step by step (at international level) and try to perform well in our upcoming friendlies.
"We've got under-19 qualifiers as well, so we're going to try and qualify for that. We're just going to take everything step by step and improve our football."
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