As a child, Michael Kayode dreamed of becoming a fast runner, like his Jamaican idol Usain Bolt.
These days, Kayode still runs fast, but back and forth on the sides of the soccer fields, rather than the athletics track.
Suddenly, the 22-year-old right-back became the face of a multi-ethnic renewal within the ranks of the Italian national team, which is going through a difficult period.
Kayode was born in Italy, to Nigerian parents, and scored one goal and made another in his first appearance with the Italian national team during the victory over Türkiye, last Monday. It is likely that he will start again when the Italian national team visits France in the European Nations League, tomorrow (Friday).
The current Italian national team includes five other players of African origin, namely: Honest Ahanor, Issa Doumbia, Mohamed Ali Zuma, Moise Kean, and Eddy Quadio.
Roberto Mancini, who was reappointed as coach of the national team after Italy, the four-time world champion, failed to qualify for the World Cup for the third time in a row, is looking for new faces to inject vitality into the team's ranks.
Kayode said: “It is painful not to qualify for the World Cup, but I always try, when something bad happens, to see it as a new beginning. “We are here to work hard and open a new page.”
Kayode moved from the Italian fourth division to the English Premier League in just four years, when he joined Brentford last year.
The English club is making a very strong start to the season, as it occupies fourth place after its great victory over Chelsea (3-0), on the day Kayode received his first call-up to the Italian national team.
But before devoting himself to football, Kayode loved running.
“I always watched Bolt at the Olympics, as well as runners like Justin Gatlin and Yohan Blake,” he said.
But his father always watched football matches on television, which prompted Kayode to become interested in the game as well.
At the age of six, Kayode began training at the Juventus Youth Academy, but the Torino club released him when he reached 14 years old, and he ended up with Gozano in the fourth division.
After that, Fiorentina signed him to join their academy, and his rise began rapidly. He played his first match in the Italian League when he was nineteen years old, then became a key player in a team that reached the final of the European Conference League, before moving to England.
Although he was able to represent Nigeria, Kayode also participated with the Italian national teams, and played for the U-18, U-19, and U-21 national teams.
Kayode said during his presentation to the media at the Coverciano training center for the Italian national team, last week: “Nigeria contacted me, but representing Italy is an honor for anyone.”
In Coverciano, Kayode met again with Alberto Bollini, who led the Italian under-19 national team to win the European Championship in 2023, and is currently working as Mancini’s assistant.
Kayode scored the only goal of the match in Italy's victory (1-0) over Portugal in the final of the European Under-19 Championship, in 2023.
He said: “Seeing Pollini again is wonderful. I owe him a lot. The feeling of winning the European Championship is unforgettable. To this day, I still go back to the photos and videos of that tournament.”
Since joining Brentford in January 2025, Kayode has become known for his exceptional ability to take throw-ins, the distance of which has been measured at more than 40 yards.
He said: “I woke up one day and discovered that I had the ability to take long throw-ins. When I was at Fiorentina, I did not use it much, but when I went to England I discovered that I had a coach who relied on it, so we started using it in set pieces and tactics, and it is paying off.”
Throw-ins have become so associated with Kayode's name that he used one on social media to announce the gender of his baby girl, Amelie, who was born last August.
“Becoming a father at this age is an incredible feeling,” Kayode said. “I don’t think there is any greater joy than that.”
Spaniard Carlos Alcaras, ranked third in the world, qualified on Thursday for the second round of the Tokyo Tennis Tournament (500 points), despite his inconsistent performance, by defeating American Alex Mikkelsen 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-1.
The defending champion trailed 2-4 in the first set, and had to save 3 balls to decide the set on his serve when Mikkelsen, who recently reached the quarter-finals of the US Championship, was ahead 5-4.
Then the American pushed his Spanish opponent into a tiebreak, after breaking his serve when Alcarras was leading 6-5 and serving to decide the first set.
Alcarras imposed his control in the tie-break, winning the first set after a battle that lasted an hour and 12 minutes, before the winner of 7 Grand Slam titles returned to his erratic performance.
The Spaniard trailed 0-2 in the second set, before he suddenly rose up and won 4 consecutive games, but then lost 4 games in a row and the second set.
Facing an opponent he met for the first time, the former world number one clearly picked up his pace in the decisive set, leading 5-0 after about 20 minutes. Moments later, his qualification was decided after two hours and 31 minutes of fluctuations.
In the next round, he will face Italian Matteo Arnaldi (37), who reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros last June.
Alkaras is playing in Tokyo for his third tournament since returning from injury. The world number three was absent due to an injury to his right wrist, between April and the end of last August, before returning to competition in the US Open, where he was eliminated in the quarter-finals.
He also participated in the Laver Cup in London, September 25-27, which is an exhibition competition that brings together the best European players against the best players in the world.
Earlier on Thursday, American Taylor Fritz (12), runner-up in the last edition in Tokyo, was suddenly eliminated from his first match by Spanish qualifier Jaume Munar (64), who won 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 6-3.
