Academy focus: Millwall&#8217;s first Afghan international Elias Mansor on over a decade at Well Hall, football vs snooker, &#82

WHEN Elias Mansor first received the phone call telling him he had been called up to the Afghanistan national team, it came following repeated efforts to get on their radar.

“I was somebody who really wanted to play for my country before, so I used to email them and everything, trying to get a call-up,” Mansor told NewsAtDen . “But in the end, they just came to me, so I'm happy.”

Only a month after being handed his first professional deal in August, Mansor was called up to represent the country of his birth against Iran and Tajikistan.

The eighteen-year-old became Millwall’s first Afghan international last month, the latest milestone in the career of a player who is a Lion through and through.

Mansor joined Millwall’s academy at the under-eights, and has risen through each age group before being promoted to Kevin Nugent and Paul Robinson’s under-21s earlier this year.

The midfielder sat down with NewsAtDen to tell us more about his story, which started at an earlier age than most.

Mansor came to England in 2009, when he reckons he was two or three, joining up with his father, who had been working here since 2001.

“I grew up in south-east London, Woolwich to be exact,” Mansor said. “I used to play for a Sunday league team. I started playing football at about four.

“A year or two after I came into the country, I was training and training with my Sunday league team called Teviot, then somewhere one of the other players' dads told my dad about Millwall having sessions on a Saturday.

“You just keep going to those Saturday sessions, and at the end of it, you reach the under-nines. Then they offer you a contract, or they don't, and fortunately, I was offered a contract.”

Mansor, who believes his strongest attribute is his ability on the ball, had obvious footballing talent as a youngster. However, it was not the sport his father had pencilled him in for.

“Apparently, it was a choice between snooker or football,” he said. “My dad loves snooker.

“He wanted my older brother to become a football player, and he wanted me to become a snooker player. But then in the end, he saw that I was good at football as well. My dad loves football.

“Back home, cricket is their main sport, but football is still a big part of their happiness towards the country. They've been at war for a while, so cricket and football have brought happiness.

“My dad watched it here as well, and he said, 'This is a sport I need my kids to play.' We've been playing it since.”

Mansor’s talent was noticed by his coaches at Millwall’s academy in Well Hall, and he moved through the age groups seamlessly.

“For me specifically, it was quite easy-going because I was an outstanding performer throughout my younger age groups as well," he said. “You see people going and new people coming in, and you're always like, 'Oh, this could be me, this could not be me.'

“But as long as I was performing, it was easy for me, and I got offered an early scholarship at fifteen.”

Mansor spent “ten, eleven” years at Well Hall, an environment he thrived in.

“Every single manager, you've met them,” he said. “Even when you get to sixteens, seventeens, eighteens, you still know the managers who work with under-nines, under-tens.

“It's a very good environment, you feel at home, you feel safe, you don't feel out of place, anything like that. It feels comfortable.”

Over a decade at Well Hall meant the ‘Millwall style of play’ was inculcated within him throughout his footballing education.

“Millwall have a certain system that they want you to play from when you're at younger age groups to when you get older - even to the under-21s,” he said. “You go through the ranks, they play the exact same football.

“They need that hunger, they need that desire in you to want to win games, to want to perform. Throughout the years, they just teach you how to become the best version of yourself and the best version that the fans will love and that can get you points.”

Mansor took the next step this summer, signing his first professional contract and getting promoted from the under-18s with four others, a wait he admitted was the hardest part of his academy career.

“The only thing that was nerve-wracking was the pro contract,” he said. “I was like, 'Am I going to get it? Have I done enough? Have I not been doing enough? In the end, when I got it, I was happy.”

Soon after securing his professional deal, Mansor was contacted by the Afghanistan national team.

“I was in training, and then I got a call from someone I know, whose son plays for the Under-23s,” he said. “He was with the first team manager and some centre-mid had got injured literally on the day.

“He passed the phone on to the manager, and the manager just said, 'We need you last minute because one of our players has got injured.' I said, 'That's perfect for me.'

“Then they sent over the invitation letter to Jessica [Millwall's club secretary], and Jessica approved it, and I went on my way.”

Adjusting to international football, where players arrive from different leagues with their own styles and habits, was a tricky process at first for Mansor.

“It was weird to be honest, you play against first-team teams here, but there's a different level when you're at international football,” he said. “You see everyone coming from different areas, you see different styles of football, and I've never played with anyone apart from Millwall players.

“Millwall have one structure, but the national team has a different way of playing. It was quite confusing at the beginning, but you get used to it after two or three days in training. You get into the rhythm of playing, and when you play together, you learn new things.

“I was out of position at right-back as well. The way Millwall played me at right-back and the way the Afghanistan National Team played me at right-back were two completely different styles. So you keep learning every game and every training session.”

Mansor started in a friendly game against Tajikistan under-23s before he featured for the first team.

“The first friendly game that I played was just to get me into the squad to see how it is,” he said. “I played very well that game. I did get sent off, but the manager didn't really care because I overall had a good game.”

His performance earned him starts against Iran and Tajikistan.

“For the Iran game, I started over the actual right-back, even though I'm not a right-back,” he said. “But Iran have great players, they're ranked 20th in the world. You see their athleticism and you're like, 'Oh, this is the level I need to get to.'

“You can see that there's a difference between me and them because I haven't matured into men's football fully yet. It was quite tough against Iran because you just see their athleticism, they're running up and down the pitch.”

“Tajikistan played a whole different setup. I played well in that Tajikistan game. I got on the ball and moved it around.

“But mainly, I was defending in both of those games, and defending is something that I'm good at, but not something that I want to be doing a lot. I'm a player who likes to get on the ball, pass the ball and move it around.”

Mansor impressed in his first call-up, earning another for the upcoming international break for Afghanistan’s Asia Cup qualifiers against Pakistan home and away on October 9 and 14.

When he returns, he, like many of the other under-21s, is targeting the next career milestone: a first-team call-up.

“Everyone's ambition is to get into the first team squad,” he said. “Either on the bench or coming off the bench for the first team, making my debut, that's obviously the long-term goal.

“Hopefully, I'll try to get a new contract this season as well. That just comes from playing well.

“I saw how Alfie Massey, Ra'ees [Bangura-Williams], Rafiq [Lamptey], all of them, I've seen how they play well, and they got a contract extension. I look up to them and see that's where I want to get at. Playing consistently for the first team.”