"Born in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo back when the country was called Zaire, he moved to England as a child. After retiring as a player, one of his main jobs now is to help identity footballers from other countries who could play for DR Congo and then try to recruit them. There is a large Congolese diaspora around Europe, including a number of high-profile football players, who left the country for Europe over the last four decades fleeing political and economic instability, players."
""It probably started while I was playing," Zakuani said of his talent spotting role. "So I was doing it, but without a title or a role, because I convinced Yannick Bolasie to come to play when he was getting a sniff at a time when he was really hot for Crystal Palace. "And there was a sniff of him possibly either playing for England or France - s"
"He featured 30 times for DR Congo, where one of his team-mates was then Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie, who was born in France and raised in England. Among the biggest-name converts are Premier League players Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Yoane Wissa. The Leopards play Cameroon on Thursday in a World Cup play-off semi-final - and feature in the Africa Cup of Nations,"
Gabriel Zakuani was born in Kinshasa, then Zaire, and moved to England as a child. He played for Leyton Orient, Peterborough, and Gillingham before retiring in 2020 and earned 30 caps for DR Congo. He now works as a technical consultant for DR Congo, helping identify and recruit players from the large Congolese diaspora across Europe. Several recent squad members previously represented England, France, Belgium, or Switzerland at youth level. High-profile converts include Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Yoane Wissa. Zakuani speaks eight languages and used his playing connections to persuade players such as Yannick Bolasie to commit to DR Congo.
Read at www.bbc.com
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