By Victor Kanayo
An African footballer from Sierra Leone, Mohamed Buya Turay, has revealed how he missed his wedding after his new club Malmo asked him to resume for the season early.
The 27-year-old had signed for the Swedish outfit after a spell playing in the Chinese Super League, for both Hebei China Fortune and Henan Songshan Longmen.
The wedding was set for July 21 but Swedish club Malmo wanted the 27-year-old to join up with them as soon as possible.
Turay missed the ceremony, and instead travelled to Sweden to be unveiled as a Malmo player on July 22.
But in a ‘cunning’ plan, his brother switched places with him at the wedding to walk the aisle alongside bride Suad Baydoun.
Turay told Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, “We got married on July 21 in Sierra Leone. But I was not there because Malmo asked me to arrive earlier.”
Turay who had posed for pictures with his wife in their wedding outfits before he left for Sweden and posted them on Twitter.
“We took the picture beforehand, so it looks like I was there, but I was not. My brother got to represent me at the actual wedding,” he said on Twitter.
Turay, who signed for Malmo after spending two seasons in China’s top flight, came on for the last nine minutes against Luxembourg’s Diddeleng on Thursday in a 3-0 win in the first leg of their Europa League third qualifying round tie.
He has not been reunited with his wife since the marriage but promised they would honeymoon together – eventually.
“First, we are going to win the league, and then I will go on a honeymoon,” Turay said with a smile.
He has experience of playing in Sweden, having won the Allsvenskan in 2019 while on loan at Djurgårdens IF, where he was also the league’s top scorer.
Turay, who has a young daughter from a previous relationship, hit headlines a few years back when he claimed an injury suffered on international duty was the result of black magic following his Golden Boot victory.
