Dango Ouattara: Burkina Faso's hero

Over 3,000 miles away, in west Africa, a whole country celebrated.

While Ouattara is making his mark in the Premier League, he’s a superstar in his native Burkina Faso.

Only the second player from the nation to play in the Premier League, following in the footsteps of Aston Villa’s Bertrand Traore, Ouattara is stepping out of the shadows as Burkina Faso’s poster boy.

We went on the search to find out more about Ouattara’s impact in his homeland.

Ouattara has settled quickly in the Premier League. He assisted Jaidon Anthony on his debut before making a similar impact on his third appearance for the club, picking out Marcos Senesi to cap off his 21st birthday.

He added a further assist in the win over Liverpool and was only denied a fourth contribution in the defeat to Arsenal as his cross for Philip Billing's opener was deflected by Gabriel.

His shining moment came at Tottenham, coming on as a second-half substitute to net a 95th minute winner, his first Premier League goal. 

Blessed with real pace, his direct running and dribbling skills make him a nightmare for defenders to deal with. Paired with his ability to create goalscoring chances and a remarkable jump, it’s quickly apparent that Ouattara is the real deal.

It's his ability that makes the winger such a revelation, according to Alasdair Howorth, who covers African football for the likes of CNN, BBC and The Athletic.

“The fact that he’s in the Premier League at his age is an incredible testament to his quality.

“Due to regulations, for someone from Burkina Faso to move to the Premier League, they have to be an established international and they have to have seen success on multiple fronts.

“At barely 21, he’s already been so successful with the international team. If you think of the best African players, very few of them move to the Premier League at this age – players like Didier Drogba moved in their mid-twenties.”

Howorth describes Burkina Faso as a nation on the fringes of glory in Africa, a team that have gone so close in recent years but ultimately leaving empty-handed.

“They’re a team who have been on the fringes of the top table of African football.

“Burkina Faso have been to the semi-finals of Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] on a number of occasions, including last year.

“They even got to the final in 2013, when they had a golden generation of players like Aristide Bancé, Charles Kaborè and Jonathan Pitroipa, but they didn’t quite get over the line.

“They’ve never got to the World Cup. With the fact that the tournament is going to be expanding, there’s a real hope this will be the group to get them there and that’s the holy grail.”

Ouattara is the star of a team that contains a number of talented players. Traore is still a part of the Burkina Faso set-up, while Manchester City loanee Issa Kaborè makes waves for Marseille, Edmond Tapsoba impresses at Bayer Leverkusen and Blati Touré continues from a successful AFCON showing.

They reached the semi-final of the most recent tournament and Ouattara was the man to send them through to the final four, netting the winning goal against Tunisia. Suspension meant he missed the game against Senegal, where the Stallions were eventually knocked out.

Burkinabè reporter Moussavou Billa admits that Ouattara is a significant figure in his homeland, affectionately telling this journalist that he’d happily answer questions on “Dango that we all love in Burkina Faso”.

He said: “In such a short time, Dango won the hearts of the Burkinabè, thanks to his talent, his determination and his performances.

“Today, it is difficult for Burkinabè to talk about football without mentioning the name of Dango Ouattara.

“The love for Dango is really unanimous. I can say that everyone likes him. He is quite calm, reserved and humble. In Burkina Faso, we like respectful and hardworking people and Dango really embodies those qualities.”

Howorth acknowledges the sentiment, adding: “Dango Ouattara is huge in Burkina Faso, I think he’s the face at the forefront of the new Burkina Faso team.”

Ouattara was born in February 2002 in Ouagadougou and began his career in the academy system of Majestic FC.

His good form – he netted five goals in 11 games as a teenager – earned European interest and after a successful trial, he signed for French side FC Lorient.

With moves to England almost impossible, talented players often end up making moves to France or Belgium to ply their trade.

Howorth expands: “It's really feasible for players from Burkina Faso to head to Belgium or France and you often see players make really early moves to those countries.

“There aren’t really stand-out academies like Generation Foot in Senegal, where Sadio Mane went, or the Right to Dream academy in Ghana, where Mohammed Kudus came through, but there is a strong connection with clubs in those two European countries.”

This meant that homeland interest was largely focused on Ligue 1, as Billa explains.

“At one point, there were a large number of Burkinabè players in the French league: Charles Kaboré, Jonathan Pitroipa, Steve Yago, Alain Traoré and even Bertrand Traoré.

“The Burkinabè were therefore used to following this league a lot, but the number of players decreased. That meant the program of FC Lorient and followed the evolution of Dango received a lot of attention.”

As Ouattara completed a permanent move to the Cherries in January, the eyes of the nation turned to Vitality Stadium.

The follower growth was so significant that on the club’s Facebook page, Ouagadougou ranks second in the list of cities where followers live.

The country’s flag is a prominent fixture in the comment section of the club’s posts, as well as ‘Dangoal’, the nickname affectionately given to the winger in his home country.

Billa summarises: “Burkina Faso is proud to always see its players evolve in European championships.

“Since the arrival of Dango in the Premier League, it is sure that the number of Burkinabè who follow this league has increased.

“Every weekend the Burkinabè now follow the matches of AFC Bournemouth and their idol Dango Ouattara.”