Crafted in Catalonia, now in the Cymru Premier League, Touray Sisay is banging in the goals for Aberystwyth Town. Matthew Burgess reports on the Spaniard who’s brought tiki-taka to Park Avenue.
It has been five years since Aberystwyth Town last reached the Cymru League’s end of season play-offs and while a top-six finish has again eluded them this season, the club are still harbouring hopes of a getting into the league’s end of season finale.
Despite being eight points off the top of the Play-Off Conference (seventh), the Green and Blacks are still very much in the play-off conversation – and that’s due in no small part to their new striker Touray Sisay.
The 20-year-old Spaniard fired in a hat-trick in Aberystwyth’s 5-3 win against Airbus UK Broughton last weekend to take his tally to four goals in three appearances for his new club.
His promising start at Park Avenue is the latest chapter of the well-travelled striker’s career.
Touray initially made his name in the Spanish lower leagues before trial a spell with Hearts at their Spanish winter training camp led to him coming over to the UK for trials at Stoke City and Hull City’s development sides.
A brief spell at Ramsgate followed before Aberystwyth moved for him during the January transfer window.
“I’ve settled in really well at Aber, the whole club have been welcoming and friendly,” he says.
Uchafbwyntiau | Highlights@AberystwythTown 5-3 @airbusukfc #CymruPremierJD pic.twitter.com/ZAq3ALSXjS
— ⚽ Sgorio (@sgorio) February 17, 2020
“I was living in Liverpool in January travelling with the lads, so we spoke a lot about the league and they shared a lot of experiences with me which was helpful for me to adapt to the league.”
“I’m now living in Borth and enjoying the beach and location is a big difference to Liverpool and Barcelona but I’m really enjoying it.”
Touray’s journey began with Catalan lower league club club Sant Vicenti where his tenacious approach and eye for goal quickly gained him a reputation as a promising young striker.
“I’ve trained with a few clubs whilst I was signed to Sant Vicenti. I trained with Hearts in Murcia during their winter break, Craig Levein asked me to come in.
“Then, Stoke’s assistant manager Joaquin Gomez had heard about me in Spain as well as Hull City – it was good to play games, the experience helped me a lot adapt to football in the UK.”
“In Spain it’s very technical so to be able to introduce the physical side of the game was important and definitely helped me to improve and be able to develop my game.
“My debut for Stoke I was marking Gustavo Luiz for Marseille at St George’s Park so was a big game. I scored against Crystal Palace, winning 3-1 when I was at Hull City, and we beat Ipswich 2-1 despite them beating Hull 5-1 the previous season.
“The full-time fitness definitely helped as in Spain we only trained twice per week.”
Full time between @AberystwythTown and @airbusukfc Score 5-1 @CymruLeagues @sgorio @YClwbPelDroed @welshfootie pic.twitter.com/WlxhI08PyB
— Colin Ewart (@ColinEwart3) February 14, 2020
After being picked up by Aberystwyth, Touray hopes his goals will once again do the talking in his latest new surroundings.
“Aberystwyth heard of me whilst I was training with Hull’s U23’s and then offered me a contract until end of the season,” he said.
“In Spain I scored 36 goals in 32 games, I would love to do the same for Aberystwyth and try and capture that seventh spot!
“The Cymru Premier is a very good standard, the teams are very competitive and fighting to win every game. It is a test for me as we need to win games and every point is important, it’s a lot quicker than in Spain and under-23 level so I’ve learned a lot already.
“In Spain we learn from a young age to play with both feet so was good to score with both feet in the last game and get my hat-trick and I hope to continue.
“Penybont really pushed us in the last game so will be another big game for us at the weekend. The new signings are starting to know each other better now too.”
If Touray Sisay is able to maintain his scoring form, don’t rule Aberystwyth out of appearing in the play-offs just yet.