Ismaila Coulibaly joined AIK at the beginning of February. After that, he has had to bide his time, but during Saturday’s cup meeting with Gefle, the midfielder had to make his long-awaited debut when he jumped in with ten minutes left in the match.
– I am very happy to be here and happy to see the crazy atmosphere with the supporters. For being my first ten minutes here, I don’t think it was that bad, said Coulibaly following his debut at the club.
AIK, once once more playing at the Tele2 Arena, were carried by their home crowd and when Anton Salétro’s free-kick projectile sailed into the goal, the roof of the arena lifted – a unique experience for Coulibaly.
– I was very surprised. I’ve been in Scandinavia for almost four years and I’ve never seen a team with such a crazy atmosphere in the arena.
Although Coulibaly has been at his new club for less than a month, he has already managed to get into his new team, this following a short start.
– It hasn’t been complicated because I have one or two players that I knew before I came here, so it was easy and we have a very good dressing room. We are all together and everyone is nice to each other. It was not difficult to get into the team, says Coulibaly.
Ismaila Coulibaly joined from Sheffield United and had several options on the table. But in the end, AIK was an obvious choice for the 23-year-old, who has been reunited with sporting director Thomas Berntsen, who he worked with during his time at Sarpsborg.
– That election was regarding trust. I had several choices but (Thomas) Berntsen took me when I was ten years old and I already knew what he can do for me and I really trust him following being injured several times.
– I thought that the best option for me is to go where I can trust people once more and AIK was the choice for me.
After successful years in Sarpsborg, Coulibaly has been pulled with injury problems. This means that he maintains a constant dialogue to be ready for the Allsvenskan season.
– I have a dialogue with the physical trainer and the head coach and they have a plan for me to be fully ready for the first game of the season, so I just follow that plan, says Coulibaly, who also gave his view on which position he prefers to play in his new teams:
– I like to play as “eight”, but I can play in more positions. I have played in different offensive positions since I was young, “nine”, “ten”, “six” and “eight” – I can adapt to the game system, sums up AIK’s latest debutant.