Guillou

Guillou is a big player in the business of grooming African footballers, perhaps even the biggest.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

But for the boys in Bamako, Guillou is someone who can help them achieve a better life.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

“Monsieur Guillou is helping me so that I can earn money later on.”

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

Guillou opened his first boarding school in 1994, in Abidjan in Ivory Coast.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

To recoup his money, Guillou has to make a profit when he eventually sells his students to European clubs.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

Jan Guillou, one of Sweden's best-known thriller writers, is rather infamous for his 1977 book, "Iraq: The New Arabia," a hagiography of the Baath regime, and for declaring, in the week after the 9/11 terror attacks on America, that the U.S. was "the greatest mass murderer of our time."

Tattooed by Politics Michael C. Moynihan 2011

Florian Guillou (Fra), Bretagne-Schuller, at 0: 16 50.

2010 Paris-Bourges results 2010

Guillou, and Guillou alone, sets the rules of his system.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010

As a medieval historian and a big fan of historical fiction, family members from Sweden have been telling me for years to learn some Swedish so I can enjoy the fabulous bestselling Crusades Trilogy from Swedish author Jan Guillou.

“The Road to Jersualem” by Jan Guillou (Harpercollins, 2009) « The BookBanter Blog 2010

Guillou spent €1.6 million to build the academy in Bamako, which costs €165,000 a year to run.

Young African Football Players Are a Hot Commodity in Europe | Impact Lab 2010