By Mohamed Fajah Barrie
BBC Sport, Freetown |
 Kallon celebrates one of his 11 league goals with a team-mate |
Sierra Leone captain Mohamed Kallon is hoping that his spell with French club AS Monaco will finally bring him the trophies he craves.
The 25-year-old has not won a trophy since coming to Europe in 1995, when he started his career with Swiss side FC Lugano.
Yet despite the years and a spell with Italian giants Inter Milan, the Sierra Leonean has never laid his hands on a team prize.
"I have won personal laurels but I'm yet to achieve anything at either club or international level," Kallon told BBC Sport.
"The closest I have come to winning a trophy was in 2001 when my previous club Inter Milan ended up second in the Italian Serie A League.
 |  I'm happy in France and I do not regret leaving Inter Milan for Monaco |
"I will fight hard this time to start winning laurels with Monaco."
Yet he will have to wait before having the chance to pick up a trophy with Sierra Leone.
The Leone Stars have not played a competitive match since 2003, when they lost to Congo in the preliminary round of 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifying.
And the next qualifier the West Africans will play, to try to reach the 2008 Nations Cup, will be towards the end of next year at the earliest.
"At international level, it will not be easy to succeed because we no longer have the chance to qualify for the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt and the World Cup in Germany," Kallon explained.
 Kallon enjoys a fine partnership with Emmanuel Adebayor (left) |
"But as captain, I will fight hard to lead my country to qualification for a Nations Cup finals before I quit the game."
Kallon has played in a Nations Cup finals before, bursting to fame in 1996 when he became the then youngest player ever to score in the finals at the age of sixteen years and three months against Burkina Faso.
Since playing for Lugano, he has travelled through Italy in spells with Bologna, Genoa, Cagliari, Reggina, Vicenza and Inter.
The forward joined last year's Uefa Champions League runners-up in July, after scoring 14 goals in 42 league games over three seasons for Inter Milan.
He is nearing that total in just one season with Monaco, where he has found the back of the net eleven times in his first 28 games despite occupying an unusual midfield role.
"I'm happy playing in the French League and I do not regret leaving Inter Milan for Monaco," said Kallon.
"I like the style of the French League because it is more African."
Despite playing behind the strikers, Kallon is Monaco's leading scorer, thanks in large part to this Togolese team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor.
"I am co-ordinating well with Adebayor and as a result I've scored a lot of goals," the Sierra Leonean explained.
"He is a good player and as my African brother we get on well."
Only time will tell whether the fruitful partnership can deliver the trophies that Kallon so desperately craves.
Monaco are effectively out of the running in the league championship, but will hope to win the French Cup where they meet lower league side Clermont Foot in the quarter-finals later this month.
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