For the people who knew him before the Premier League, before Fiorentina and before the Azzurri, it was a moment that confirmed what they had seen years earlier.
Kayode scored on his senior Italy debut as the Azzurri defeated Turkey 4-1, announcing himself on the international stage with the same attacking instinct and energy that had defined his development from a teenager at Gozzano to a Premier League regular with Brentford.
Antonio Soda was the coach who gave him that first opportunity.
Kayode was only 16 when Soda decided to move him from the youth setup into Gozzano’s first team during the 2020-21 season. He was not originally supposed to be there.
“He was destined for the Allievi,” Soda told Tuttomercatoweb. “When they showed him to me I tried him with the senior players and I never took him out.”
Gozzano were operating under rules that required them to field players from particular age groups, but Kayode was even younger than those requirements demanded. His ability nevertheless made the decision straightforward.
“You immediately saw that he did things that players who were more developed did not do,” Soda said.
Kayode was still searching for his position. Soda eventually found one that suited him perfectly in his 3-5-2, using the teenager as a wing-back because of his pace and stamina.
His athletic background helped. Kayode had also competed in athletics, something Soda believes contributed to his ability to operate from one end of the pitch to the other.
The numbers from that first senior season were modest — 34 appearances and two goals — but his impact was already unmistakable.
Soda remembers one match in particular against Casale. It was Kayode’s first start.
“He won the penalty that gave us the victory and cleared a goal off the line,” Soda recalled.
Gozzano ultimately won the Serie D title with the youngest team in the division, and Kayode was at the heart of it.
The coach who discovered him remains particularly proud of having trusted a player so young.
“Making him debut at 16 is also an act of courage, but he had incredible strength and nobody ever got past him,” Soda said. “You saw that he was destined for something and what impressed me most was that he grew every day, absorbed all the advice and followed you in everything.”
There was another part of Kayode’s game that began at Gozzano and has since become one of his signatures.
His long throw-ins.
Soda remembers seeing Kayode produce extraordinary distances during training and deciding to turn the unusual physical ability into an attacking weapon.
“They were born at Gozzano,” he said. “The players had told me they saw him doing incredible things with throw-ins in the gym. When I saw it, I couldn't believe it and decided to build some set plays around his strength.”
The routine has followed Kayode into England. Soda even received calls from people in the country asking about the technique after Brentford began using it.
Between Gozzano and Brentford came Fiorentina, where Kayode continued to develop before moving to England. Andrea Ritorni, who was then working as a scout and helped bring him to Fiorentina, remembers a player who had always believed English football would suit him.
Kayode had struggled for regular opportunities under Fiorentina coach Raffaele Palladino, but when Brentford made their move, the youngster was delighted.
“Michael was very happy, because he had always said that English football was the football most suited to him,” Ritorni said.
The move proved transformative.
Ritorni watched Kayode establish himself at Brentford, become a regular starter and eventually receive the Italy call-up he had been waiting for.
“He has settled in very well at Brentford, carved out his space and become a starter,” Ritorni said. “Then came the call-up to the national team, which he had been waiting for for a very long time.”
The international breakthrough came with a goal against Turkey.
Claudio Vigorelli, Kayode’s agent, was celebrating not simply an excellent debut but the culmination of a journey that had accelerated dramatically over the previous 18 months.
“We are very happy with the path this boy has taken in this year and a half between the Premier League and now the national team,” Vigorelli said.
There is, however, a common theme running through the memories of the people who knew Kayode before the spotlight arrived.
He has not changed.
Ritorni went to see him after his international debut and found the same player he had first encountered in 2020.
“Michael is a boy of extraordinary humility and simplicity,” he said. “Since I met him in 2020, when he was at Gozzano and then I took him to Fiorentina, he has remained exactly the same.”
Ritorni also pointed to Kayode’s family and the values that have accompanied his rise, describing him as someone surrounded by “humility, dedication and sacrifice.”
Vigorelli has seen the same qualities from a different vantage point.
Asked whether there was any danger of Kayode becoming carried away by his rapid rise, the agent dismissed the possibility.
“He is a fantastic boy, a very serious professional: his growth is not yet complete,” Vigorelli said.
That humility is perhaps what makes the journey from Gozzano to the Italy team so striking.
Soda remembers a 16-year-old who was initially meant to play with the youth team but was simply too good to leave there. He remembers the pace, the physical power, the willingness to listen and the ability to do things that older players could not.
He also remembers the boy behind the footballer.
“I think he is the full-back of Italy’s future because, beyond his qualities, he has the right values and an exceptional family behind him,” Soda said.
Kayode’s story has now reached the senior international stage, but the people who helped start it are still looking forward rather than back.
Soda believes the Brentford defender can become even better. Vigorelli says his development is not finished. Ritorni believes he arrived in the Premier League at exactly the right time.
The goal against Turkey was therefore not an ending.
For those who saw Kayode when he was still a 16-year-old playing Serie D football in a small town in northern Italy, it was another step in a journey they had been watching for years.