Do you remember Musa Yahaya, the 16-year-old Nigerian kid who was dubbed the 'New Iniesta' and has been training with us for a while? Apparently he doesn't speak English, and it's been a bit of a problem. Generally, when some new recruit arrives only knowing Spanish or French or Portuguese, that's not really much of a problem, because there are coaches and other players at the club that speak those languages. But sadly, there doesn't seem to be anyone at the club that knows Yahaya's language, Hausa.
Yahaya's agent Babawo Mohammed talked to Nigerian website SL10.ng about this, and apparently Spurs have hired a teacher who speaks Hausa and English to tutor him. Mohammed talked about some other aspects of his life at Spurs as well.
"Tottenham Hotspur have hired an English teacher for Musa Yahaya. The lady speaks Hausa and English, so it's easy for Musa to understand what is being taught. She comes three times a week to tutor him. Before now, he spoke only Hausa and little Nigerian pidgin English, but he has improved now. During training, he wasn't really understanding what they were telling him to do ... On the pitch, they are highly impressed with his performance. He is staying in their club house and they take care of his meals. A vehicle picks him from the club house and takes him to training every day."
We won't be seeing Yahaya in a match anytime soon -- he's not yet eligible for a work permit -- but I'm sure you'll continue to find hype pieces about him between now and his debut. Hopefully he really is the second coming of Andres Iniesta.