A damp mist rises from the Thames and is lost in the grey sky between chimneys and skyscrapers. Maybe Millwall doesn’t look like the Garden of Eden, but it’s where Japhet Tanganga is finding his smile again, at the end of an all-too-long purgatory. In summer the English defender said goodbye to Tottenham after sixteen years and restarted from the Championship. Game after game he is getting rid of a boulder: 371 days out due to injury in his career. Today that nightmare seems to have passed: “Faith in God helped me.” And two years ago he could have played in Italy: “I was close to AC Milan and I would like to play in Serie A in the future, but now I am focused on Millwall, where I am finding consistency.” Finally Japh took the stage, and tells about his new happiness to Gianlucadimarzio.com.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and he will make your paths clear.” Tanganga has been repeating it to himself for months and continues to do so: it is his mantra, taken from the book of Proverbs. “I read the Bible as much as I can and this is a great lesson, it teaches that everything happens for a reason. It helped me change my perspective on life: even injuries are opportunities. Each stop was an opportunity to learn more about my body, my limits, my rhythms and how to invest to perform at my best.”
Japhet thinks back to those days and recounts them with a sincere and profound analysis: “Injuries are difficult moments for a footballer. You see the team training and you are still. I often wondered why my body kept falling apart.” First the thigh, then the knee. Over a year out in a five season career. “But even though it may seem strange, from my perspective they were gifts.” “Gifts from God,” he says. “Now I feel good: I returned to Millwall in the summer – assisted by Roberto De Fanti’s agency RDF Football – after six months on loan to feel like a protagonist. The fans are incredible, their love was a decisive factor in my choice. They sing at the top of their lungs: it’s one of the most beautiful atmospheres in England.”
The enthusiasm for the new challenge on the one hand, the deep feelings of leaving a family on the other: two sides of the same coin. Tanganga spent sixteen years with Spurs: he arrived as a child and left as a man. “Tottenham will always be my first home and will have a special place in my heart. I had already made the decision to leave and seek consistency, but the farewell day was still difficult.” You don’t easily part ways with such a love. “And in fact now I keep following them, I support my former teammates and I know that sooner or later they will return to a final and win it, they deserve it”. Word of a man who experienced the last lost final first hand – the 2021 Carabao Cup, which ended 1-0 for City.
From a youth player to a first team starter, the dream came true on 11 January 2020. A debut for strong hearts only: “It was the greatest emotion of my career: I had never played in the Premier League and Mourinho gave me trust from the first minute against Liverpool. An intense and important match. We didn’t win, but it was special: I was marking Mané, the most difficult opponent of my career together with Adama Traoré. And already in the pre-season, with Pochettino on the bench, I had filled up with adrenaline: on the first tour of my life I played against Real Madrid, Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus.”
When he mentions CR7, Tanganga does so from the heart: “As a child he was my idol, I grew up supporting Manchester United”. Japh was nine years old while Ronaldo led the Red Devils to win the Premier League and Champions League in 2008: “He enchanted me with his dribbling and goals.” Today it remains his model “for the obsessive attention to every detail in body care”. Injuries – “gifts from God” – taught Japhet exactly this, we were saying. And today, at twenty-five, after having being close to Milan and the English national team, he hopes his moment has arrived. He smiles and fills his voice with all his faith: “Now it’s my time to shine”.
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