Carlos Mendes, from Lanzarote to emulate Messi at Wembley

“My cell phone is full of messages, it looks like it's going to explode,” reveals a Carlos Mendes Gomes (Dakar, 1998) as full as hoarse hours after getting promotion to League One with the FC Morecambe. “My family was extremely happy when I signed my first professional contract, but this is the happiest moment of my career,” adds one of the footballers who has caused the greatest impact this season in England. With 16 goals and five assists, Carlos Mendes has led Morecambe to the third category of English football. It was theirs the goal with which the shrimp signed their promotion at Wembley. The player raised in Lanzarote put his team ahead in extra time and from the penalty spot. And although he sympathizes with Real Madrid, he celebrated it like Leo Messi at the Santiago Bernabéu, showing his shirt to the public: “I wanted to celebrate a goal like that and that was the perfect moment. It's something that I'm going to tell even my grandchildren.”

In the Carlos Mendes story, however, not all the chapters are rosy. The '11' of the Morecambe He is the son of Bisauguinean emigrants who arrived in Senegal fleeing the war. Born in Dakar, but when he was only two years old, he traveled with his family to Lanzarote in search of a better future. There he kicked a ball for the first time. In 2012 he decided to move to Madrid in search of new opportunities. With only 13 years and the only company of a student cousin, Mendes Gomes planted himself in the capital of Spain with the intention of becoming a professional footballer. “I had a hard time being away from my family, especially at Christmas, but I liked football too much to give up,” he recalls. He spent a year at Getafe and then made the leap to Atlético de Madrid. He was fulfilling his dream, but a move crossed his path again: “My father found a job in Salford and I had to go to England. I didn't take it very well, but I understood that my family wanted the best for me. They told me that if I thought I was going to be a footballer it would be in Spain or England. That's how they convinced me. “

At 16, Carlos Mendes arrived in Greater Manchester County with one hand in front and one behind. From the Atleti quarry to nothing. “I called Bolton, Wigan, Rochdale … They all told me the same thing: we'll call you”, he remembers, “the first months were very hard: I didn't have a team and I didn't know how football worked in England. I didn't know the language either. , so I had a really bad time. I made friends, but I played in the street. I spent a year playing pachangas until I found a team from the Ninth Division, the West Didsbury & Chorlton“. Soon after the Morecambe appeared:” At my school there was a person who had contact with the club and thought he was good enough to play there. I was on trial for five months and they selected me. “That was how Carlos Mendes returned to the professional football wheel, although at first he did not enjoy too many opportunities:” I arrived with the intention of taking over the world, but I knew I had to wait for my chance. The second year I did not play anything and even asked to go on loan. It wasn't until Derek Adams came along that I started playing early. “

With the Scotsman in command, Carlos Mendes went from not being called up to becoming a capital player for Morecambe. In the season that has just ended, the canary played 46 games in which he scored 16 goals. The last one at Wembley, in the final of the promotion play-off against Newport County. “Playing in a stadium where the best players in the world have passed and, in addition, scoring, was incredible. It is something that I will never forget,” discovers the Spaniard, who in August was already betting on the promotion of Morecambe: ” When I sat down with the coach and learned about his mentality, I realized that this year we could achieve great things and that is how it has been. We have made history. ” History because FC Morecambe, a club that celebrated its centenary in 2020 and still does not know what it is to suffer a relegation, will play for the first time in the third category of football in England. “It is an achievement that goes to Mbulu (a teammate unexpectedly passed away in 2020), who was a person very close to me in the dressing room and has been helping us from above, “says Carlos Mendes, whom life has endowed with an iron mentality:” I have traveled a hard road and if I weren't mentally strong I wouldn't be here. “

Carlos Mendes knows that his season is synonymous with offers, although he still does not want to hear about it. He has one more year of contract with Morecambe, which has not prevented major European clubs such as Gerrard's Rangers have already knocked on your door. “There are rumors, but at the moment they are just that: rumors,” admits a footballer who prefers to play as '10' “because that is where I have more space to think.” Mendes Gomes has dual nationality, Spanish and Senegalese, and the African Federation has already shown interest in recruiting him. “They are following in my footsteps. I wish I could choose between Spain or Senegal, it would mean that I am doing things very well. It would be difficult because Spain is where I was trained as a footballer, but I was born in Senegal and that cannot be changed. The two countries are part of me. If the occasion came I would have to break my head to choose just one. “The former UD Lanzarote knows closely the problem of immigration and is saddened by the lack of understanding towards families who leave their home in search of opportunities: “Nobody wants to leave their comfort zone, but there are times when it is necessary to sacrifice to give a better future to your family. Education is lacking on these issues. “