The goalkeeper posted his reading tips on Instagram: “Nothing is worth more”. Genres: «Biographies and essays. I started as a child with Stilton and the Little Prince “
«Reading enriches you. Buying a Ferrari no, it enriches the dealer. It’s different. I read because books take me to places I have never been, in times I have not lived, they show me the thoughts of people who could not be more different from me. There is nothing like it in the world ». There are professional literary critics who would not be able to explain with this synthesis – and, sometimes, not even with this property of language – why they love books. Alfred Gomis is not a critic by profession, let’s say that the literary critic does it on Instagram because the job of life is another: the footballer.
In the short bio of his Instagram profile @ alfredgom1s wrote a sentence – “Everyone knows what I do, few know what I am” – that couldn’t be more appropriate. Because together with the usual things that kids of his age post on Instagram (he is 27 years old, goalkeeper, raised in Turin, he then toured Italy between Cesena, Bologna, Salerno and Ferrara: now he plays in France in Rennes) Gomis adds what he is reading: book covers, sentences that he underlined and that struck him. «So it becomes a kind of digital diary of what I do: training, travel, friends, loved ones. My dog. And the books I liked ».
Alfred is a polyglot reader – dual Senegalese-Italian citizenship, he is perfectly bilingual in French and Italian, and also speaks English – and “post” on a regular basis: biographies of the great characters are a favorite genre (Mandela, Ali, Jobs, Hendrix), and an essay by behavioral sciences such as Surrounded by Idiots by the Swedish Thomas Erikson, the African story of Cheikh Anta Diop, but also the super-bestsellers of the hugely popular Paulo Coelho. With followers it becomes a dialogue, reciprocal reading suggestions as in a book club via social media: the suggestion that has recently interested him most, Aldous Huxley’s New World. Among the former teammates, he also found passionate readers: “In Ferrara, when we were playing for Spal, we talked a lot about books with Felipe Dal Bello”.
Reading, for Gomis, is closely linked to traveling: «By bus, by plane, by train: we are constantly on the move for work. I like all the bookstores, but those of the stations have a special place. Choose a book that will accompany you to your destination, and on the next trip you will choose another, but the memory of what you read remains ». Unlike his millennial peers, he prefers paper books: “I understand the convenience of digital, but for me a book is not a file that you can keep on your computer or phone, it would seem strange to me to read on the same device that I need to send and receive e-mails. No, reading is concentration. Besides, I like the scent of paper and ink. Books, newspapers: paper is better ».
He learned Italian on paper books, as a child, just arrived in Piedmont, at the time of kindergarten: «I have to say thanks to Geronimo Stilton. I am one of the many children that Geronimo accompanied in the very first steps towards reading: they are very beautiful stories, designed for children but with many things to say to adults too, with many different levels. And then, The little Prince: another story that children love very much and continues to say things of great depth to adults as well ».
Alfred’s life – Africa, Italy, football, the disappearance of his father at a very young age, success, France – was, and is, an adventure. A story that he would like to write, but not like one of the usual autobiographies: like in a novel.
Who is
Alfred Gomis, 27, was born in Ziguinchor, Senegal, and raised in Cuneo, Piedmont. He has dual nationality, Italian and Senegalese. Raised football in Turin, he played in various teams touring Italy between Cesena, Bologna, Salernitana and Spal. Now he plays in France, in Rennes. He is the titular goalkeeper of the Senegalese national team. On her Instagram account @ alfredgom1s, followed by almost 80,000 followers, she also posts reading tips
August 3, 2021 (change August 3, 2021 | 22:24)
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