LIVERPOOL – Bobby Adekanye is eighteen years old, but has already had several top clubs behind his name.He left from VV Alphia to Ajax as a little boy from VV Alphia and via Barcelona and PSV he arrived at Liverpool in the summer of 2015.The outside right knocks on the door of the first team and secretly hopes that this season Jürgen Klopp will give him a chance, he tells Football Zone.
By Gijs Freriks
You’ve been playing for more than two years now for Liverpool.I have had difficult periods of injuries and they have thrown me back.As a result, I have not yet been able to achieve my goals, but hopefully I will reach them within a few months.It likes it well.It is a good and big club where young people get the chance if you are good enough; then you definitely get the chance in the first.
You say you haven’t reached your goals yet.I want to make the first achievements of Liverpool and I want to make many minutes at Jong Liverpool.I also want to stay fit, because if I get injured again, my goals get out of sight.So I have to stay fit and perform, in particular, and hopefully I’ll get a little bell from Klopp.Hopefully this will be my season.
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Adekanye was born in Ibadan, Nigeria’s second city.He emigrated to the Netherlands three years later and joined Ajax as F-junior in the youth education of Ajax.He would never make his debut for the first team of Amsterdammers, because at the age of twelve Adekanye made a transfer to Barcelona.This led to a desire for the outsiders who grew up in Alphen aan den Rijn.
You say that Liverpool is a club that gives the youth a chance, but Ajax does.Barcelona is a club that cannot be refused.I had a big dream, wanted to achieve something great.I was perhaps a little different from other boys.Many of them dreamed of a club in the Eredivisie, but I wanted to make it bigger and thought I could do that.And I can do that too.Barcelona had a lot of confidence in me, but because of the rules of FIFA I was not allowed to play anymore and only train.When I played for a while, my talents came to the surface, but I couldn’t get any better from training alone.
Barcelona was imposed a one-year transfer ban in 2014.On the basis of the’ FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players’, no transfers of players under the age of eighteen can take place, except for the exceptions provided therein.Barcelona had not fulfilled these conditions for the transfer of Adekanye, among others, which meant that the world football association had to pay a fine of 370,000 euros and for one year no new players were allowed to register.In addition, Adekanye was not allowed to play any official matches in the blue purple game until January 2016.
Ajax and PSV had his options, although there is a good chance that he will opt for PSV,”said businessman Josep María Minguella jr.In an interview with Football International,”Ajax only wants to take over Bobby on a permanent basis, while PSV is open for a temporary transition.In addition, PSV would like to enter into a partnership with Barcelona, where talents can gain experience in Eindhoven,”Adekanye did indeed choose PSV and spent ten months with the Onder-16 trainer Kristof Aelbrecht.
Adekanye was able to stay in Eindhoven and also had the opportunity to return to Ajax, but preferred a transfer to Liverpool.Half a year before his ban on playing at Barcelona came to an end, he signed a contract on Anfield,”I wanted to try something else,” he says,”I wanted to play at a higher level.Moreover, Liverpool gives the youth a chance, save the club’s past.I thought: I have a good talent and am a good footballer, so why not?Why not try it?It has not gone as I had hoped, but I am still young.
I can learn a lot from my injuries and bad moments.I have to play soccer now and use every minute I get to show myself.Hopefully my dream will come true and that’s the first of Liverpool’s games.Yes, Barcelona is my ultimate dream, that’s true, and hopefully I will play there again in the future.But my dream for now is to get Liverpool 1.The club has a lot of confidence in me, they see a great talent in me.They say:’ everything you need is to stay fit and then you can get it far here’.
I don’t speak to him in person often, but I did train him a couple of times, especially last year.Klopp said a few good things to me: he said that I shouldn’t be too nervous and that I should just show myself.He said that I should especially enjoy and that is true, because if I enjoy it, I get the best out of my game, I know that myself too.He is a good trainer and gives the youth players who want to work for him the chance.I am willing to work hard and we will see where the ship is stranded.
You will be coached by Steven Gerrard at the UEFA Youth League.I’m playing at Jong Liverpool, but in the Youth League I take part in the Onder-19 and Gerrard is the trainer of the Onder-19 and Onder-18.He is assigned to these teams.Gerrard is a very good trainer.I hadn’t expected that at first because he didn’t say much, but now that I am working under him, I can’t sense it.He always comes with a good speech, gets through a lot of things quickly and speaks to us a lot after the matches.He motivates me and keeps me strong.He himself also had difficult phases in the youth of Liverpool, he told us.He is a serious trainer with whom you can laugh.He wants to finish as high as possible in the Youth League.
In the UEFA Youth League at the end of September, you experienced racist treatment by fans of Spartak Moscow.UEFA has already opened an investigation into this issue.It was a nasty experience and I was a bit angry, but I couldn’t let it be noticed on the field.We were 2-1 behind us and I had to think about the team.It is strange that this will happen in 2017, but life continues and you shouldn’t be fooled.I have a strong family and I am comforted.I am there, but I hope that some people will change.Without fans, football is not very good, but if you go to a stadium anyway, do your best to behave.If fans behave like that, they ruin it for the rest as well.They don’t know what they are doing, do not know how painful it is.They see you as being different and that is very strange.Whether you’re black, white, yellow, white or any colour, we’re all the same.I hope that this behaviour will disappear from the football, because it is and remains a beautiful sport.
Finally, you have a Nigerian and Dutch passport.If you have already made a choice for a possible inter-country career,”No, I haven’t made a choice yet.I am not working on that either.At the age of fifteen, Adekanye made his debut for the Dutch national team Onder-16 at the age of fifteen.In February 2015 he participated in the training contest against Spain and joined the Onder-17 of federal coach Kees van Wonderen eight months later.Adekanye played his last interland two years ago, on 27 October 2015.Since then he has not been called any more.
Do you think Bobby Adekanye is going to make his debut for Liverpool 1 this season?