Ade Akinbiyi
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Adeola Peter Oluwatoyin Akinbiyi | ||
| Date of birth | October 10, 1974 | ||
| Place of birth | Hackney, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Houston Dynamo | ||
| Number | 14 | ||
| Senior career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Apps (Gls)2 | |
| 1993–1997 | Norwich City | 49 (3) | |
| 1994 | → Hereford United (loan) | 4 (2) | |
| 1994 | → Brighton & Hove Albion | 7 (4) | |
| 1997–1998 | Gillingham | 63 (28) | |
| 1998–1999 | Bristol City | 47 (21) | |
| 1999–2000 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 37 (16) | |
| 2000–2002 | Leicester City | 58 (11) | |
| 2002–2003 | Crystal Palace | 24 (3) | |
| 2003 | → Stoke City (loan) | 4 (2) | |
| 2003–2005 | Stoke City | 59 (17) | |
| 2005–2006 | Burnley | 39 (16) | |
| 2006–2007 | Sheffield United | 18 (3) | |
| 2007–2009 | Burnley | 70 (10) | |
| 2009– | Houston Dynamo | 9 (0) | |
| National team3 | |||
| 1999 |  Nigeria |
1 (0) | |
| 1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 July, 2009. 2 Appearances (Goals). |
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Adeola Peter Oluwatoyin "Ade" Akinbiyi (born October 10, 1974 in Hackney) is an English-born Nigerian footballer who currently plays for Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Akinbiyi has had a much-travelled career with many different clubs with transfer fees totalling almost £16 million. He began his career as a trainee at Norwich City, where he worked his way up into the first team in 1992. He made his début on 3 November 1993 as a substitute against German giants Bayern Munich in the UEFA Cup. The match ended 1–1, meaning that Norwich won the second round tie 3–2 on aggregate and went on to face Inter Milan, who eliminated them.[1]
He was loaned to Hereford United and Brighton & Hove Albion before completing a £250,000 move to Gillingham in 1997. He scored 29 goals in 67 league and cup games for the Gills and was quickly transferred to newly-promoted Division One side Bristol City for £1.2m.
[edit] Big money moves
The striker's stock continued to rise and after scoring 21 goals for Bristol City in the 1998-99 season, Wolverhampton Wanderers paid a club record £3.5million for him in September 1999 in an attempt to replace Robbie Keane. He played only one season at Molineux, finishing as the club's top goalscorer with 16 goals but Wolves just missed out on a playoff place.
Ten months after arriving at Wolves, he departed to Premier League club Leicester City for £5.5 million,[2] a decision he would come to regret.[3] Brought in as a replacement for Emile Heskey (who left for Liverpool for £11 million), he failed to live up to expectations, scoring only 11 goals in 58 league appearances and Leicester were relegated in bottom place at the end of his second season at Filbert Street. One particularly poor performance against Liverpool led to The Sun newspaper headlining its sports section with a picture of him described as "The League's Worst Striker". Some Leicester fans called him 'Ade Akinbadbuyi'.[citation needed]
His was subsequenttly transferred to Crystal Palace £2.2m in February 2002. On arrival he took the surprisingly high number 55 shirt, adding a very small plus sign between the numbers to signify his preferred shirt number, 10, which was already taken. Having scored just one goal in 14 league and cup appearances, he was loaned out to Stoke City in 2003. He scored twice – the second goal coming in the last game of the 2002-03 season, when the Potters beat Reading 1-0 to retain their second tier status. He later joined on a permanent basis, on a free transfer.
[edit] Burnley and Sheffield United
Akinbiyi completed a £600,000 move to Burnley in February 2005, but marked his debut by getting sent off within two minutes for head butting Sunderland player George McCartney. After netting 16 times for the Clarets, he moved to Sheffield United for a then club record £1.75 million in January 2006.[4]
He scored on his debut for the Blades against Derby County, and endeared himself to fans by scoring in his first Steel City derby at Hillsborough. After winning promotion, Akinbiyi made only five appearances for the Blades in the Premier League in 2006. It was also reported that he was involved in a training ground bust-up with team-mate Claude Davis in October 2006 following a 2–0 defeat against Everton in which Davis had been sent off.[citation needed]
[edit] Return to Burnley
Akinbiyi was soon resold to Burnley in January 2007 for a fee of £650,000 with a further £100,000 to be paid in the summer of 2007.[5] His second debut for the Clarets was more successful, scoring a goal against top flight Reading in the FA Cup.
During the rest of the 2006-07 season, Akinbiyi was not as successful as during his first spell at Turf Moor, scoring three goals. This was attributed by Steve Cotterill to Akinbiyi having spent too much time in the weights room at Sheffield United and as a result being too bulky.[citation needed] He was given the number nine shirt for the 2007-08 season but found himself behind Andy Gray and Robbie Blake as a first choice striker. Since going back to Burnley, Akinbiyi has lacked consistent form, finding goals harder to come by. His hard work and endeavour have made him a firm fans' favourite.[citation needed] During the 2008-09 season, his regular position on the bench was taken by youngster Jay Rodriguez, a player who he had been mentoring.[citation needed] However, Akinbiyi regained his place on the bench in the fifth round of the Carling Cup against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and in the 69th minute he scored to make the game 1-1 and take it into extra time. Burnley won 5-4 on penalties.
[edit] Major League Soccer
On March 26, 2009, Akinbiyi was reported to be in talks about a move to the United States to join Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo.[6] On March 30, 2009, Akinbiyi was officially unveiled as a Houston player.[7] He made his MLS debut in May 3, 2009, as a late substitute in a game against New England Revolution[8].
[edit] International career
Although he was born and raised in England, Akinbiyi has Nigerian heritage, and played once for Nigeria in 1999.
[edit] References
- ^ "On the Spot: Ade Akinbiyi". Daily Telegraph. 2 November 2001. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2001/11/02/sfnwin03.xml.
- ^ "Akinbiyi swaps Wolves for Foxes". bbc.co.uk. 25 July 2000. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/4624182.stm.
- ^ "Akinbiyi reveals Leicester regret". bbc.co.uk. 18 November 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/b/burnley/4448704.stm. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ "Akinbiyi and Dyer move to Blades". bbc.co.uk. 26 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/4624182.stm.
- ^ "Burnley re-sign Blades' Akinbiyi". bbc.co.uk. 1 January 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/burnley/6222637.stm.
- ^ Fallas, Bernardo (26 March 2009). "Dynamo close to signing veteran Akinbiyi". Houston Chronicle. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6342699.html. Retrieved on 2009-03-27.
- ^ http://houston.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20090330&content_id=232988&vkey=news_hou&fext=.jsp&team=t200
- ^ http://web.mlsnet.com/scoreboard/game.jsp?match=05032009_HOUNE
[edit] External links
- Ade Akinbiyi career stats at Soccerbase
- AdeAkinbiyi profile at burnleyfootballclub.com
- Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
- If it's January, it must be time to send for Ade Akinbiyi
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