As 18-year-old Adeshina Ayodele journeys through a new path in his football career, he carries an impressive personality on and off the field to his new home LOSC Lille.
A “level-headed”, “hardworking”, and “polite individual” yet a terror to defenders is how the lad is graciously described.
To think that about a year ago, ‘Shina’ as he’s called, did not make the trip with the Beyond Limits Football Academy squad to Sweden for the 2013 Gothia Cup due to visa issues. Sadly he had also lost his mother. One can only imagine the disappointment the lad would have felt at the time. Despite the turnout of events, he appeared to have dug deeper and discovered his strength and perseverance. Shina has since made significant progress and announced himself to the world, leading to his latest leap to the French Ligue 1.
His positive demeanour of course was not enough to have earned him the attention from scouts. He hit five goals in seven matches at the Viareggio Cup earlier this year, five goals in a single match against Dannaz FC in The Creative Championship (TCC) Cup, TCC League title and TCC Cup winner, Nigeria National League champion, and a promotion to the nation’s topflight league which he would not be part of following his move.
Talking to some of the coaches who have crossed paths with LOSC Lille’s new signing, Adeshina Ayodele, there’s a huge expectation even from those who have not known him for too long.
Here is what the coaches had to say about him:
Olumide Ajibolade (Head Coach, Beyond Limits Football Academy)
Shina is a regular, unassuming, low-maintenance, very focused, motivated, hardworking young man. It has been a huge privilege to coach him. He takes on the learning and makes the job easy. He takes on new ideas and he is open to criticisms. That’s the joy of a coach when you have a player who takes on information and can take on the learning. Some players are not coachable. Coachability is a trait that we don’t talk about a lot. A lot of people play football but many of them are not coachable. I’m sure that the coaches at Lille will be excited to have.
I’ve had players make this kind of step but every new player that makes this step is a new achievement. I’ve always reiterated that at the level of coaching I’m working at, the trophies don’t count for me. They are all just a platform to get the players educated. The real trophies are the boys and what becomes of them. If you win all the trophies and they don’t get to take this step forward, you’ve lost. You don’t just win on the pitch they need to win in life. We are excited.
I speak to him every day. He understands that Lille is not the end, it is a part of your journey. I told him they (Lille) have seen something, they want to invest in you, and it is up to you to take that, go there and be the best you can be. You have to keep improving. It is not time to celebrate or party. It is just the next step.
Opeyemi Azeez (Adeshina’s former coach)
I can boldly say that ‘Shina’ is a very intelligent and intellectually sound player. He has a good understanding of the game and his level of assimilation is quite high. When you teach him something he grabs it easily.
If you watch him, you can tell he has good speed and power which makes him a force and unstoppable in a game. When he drops deep, he has the capability of carrying the ball to run by himself and link up with his teammates, he is a dangerous player.
When I realised he was going to Lille, I was excited and proud to have been a part of his journey. During his time with me at Cliqsport, I saw that the boy needed to move further to a more competitive environment where he could benefit from the structure and good facilities. We arranged a match with Beyond Limits and Shina was a standout player even though we lost in the two games we played. He distinguished himself and was eventually invited to Beyond Limits. Since then, he has continued to improve and impress in tournaments. I am not surprised that a top professional club wants him. I told him when I met him that he was going to make it in football and here we are.
Olajide Akinyelu (Head Coach, Gbagada FC & TCC League Management)
First of all, let’s talk about his gameplay, in most games in the TCC League he played as a centre forward or as a right winger. He is very good and serious-minded, and he is not one of those players that play around on the pitch.
He is that type of striker with good positioning and knows when to run into the box. He finishes calmly and his 1v1 situations are solid. If you look at his goals, he beats the goalkeepers easily and slots the ball into the net. When he plays on from the flank, he is a direct player and is a player you don’t want to play around with because when he gets the ball, he puts in some decent cross. That is how he got some of his assists during the season.
His move to Lille is not just for Beyond Limits FA, it’s a win for the TCC as well. Most players who made such moves have either played in the national team, the U17s or 20s but with Shina, he was able to make that direct move even without playing for the national team. He proved himself at international tournaments and in the different competitive leagues he played in. So, he has racked up his stats with a good number of games played every week.
So it’s a big win for all of us and extra motivation for the players knowing that if you can do well here you can be seen, and things can happen. It’s a win for all of us not just beyond Limits FA.
