Dream comes true for Everton starlet who turned down Liverpool and Manchester City
Talented Everton youngster Halid Djankpata achieved his dream this week as he made his youth international debut for Italy.
The midfielder, who was born in Togo, had long hoped to represent the country his family moved to when he was just a few months old.
It was a journey that saw him turn down opportunities for both Togo and Benin, where his parents are from and which he once played for in a youth friendly.
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And it is one that saw him once say no to Serie A clubs deemed to be too far away from his Italian home - only for him to eventually end up on Merseyside.
"When the call-up came, I couldn't believe it: it's a dream come true," the 18-year-old told the Italian Football Federation ahead of the Under-19s’ game with Austria on Wednesday. Djankpata featured in the 3-0 win, after which boss Bernardo Corradi referenced the debutant as he praised “a good performance” with an experimental line-up.
The midfielder, who counts Andrea Pirlo and Paul Pogba among his inspirations, later shared a picture of himself in the team line-up on Instagram along with the caption: “The first one to remember.”
It was the latest step forward for the teenager, who grew up in the picturesque town of Lecco on the shores of Lake Como, in northern Italy. His family moved there from Lome, the capital of Togo, just after his birth and it was there his footballing journey began. After impressing as a schoolboy he earned trials with Atalanta and Brescia, clubs used to battling in Serie A, only to consider them too far from his home.
Then his family moved to the
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