Bobby Adekanye says he would follow the same path again despite the huge expectations that accompanied him after joining the academies of Barcelona and Liverpool at a young age.
The 27-year-old winger, who also spent time with PSV Eindhoven and Lazio before moving to Singapore, is now playing for Lion City Sailors, the country’s biggest club. He arrived in the Asian nation a few months ago after spells with Go Ahead Eagles and in the Turkish second division.
Adekanye was 12 when Voetbal International first published a lengthy feature about him. Journalist Michel van Egmond visited the youngster, his father and his uncle at their home in Alphen aan den Rijn.
At the time, Adekanye was preparing to leave the Netherlands. Born in Nigeria, he was moving on from De Toekomst and would soon join the FC Barcelona academy.
Fifteen years later, he spoke to the same magazine by video call from Singapore. He was sitting in a communal area of his apartment building while his partner cooked and spoke to her family.
“It’s a little quieter here at the moment,” he said.
Adekanye has only a vague memory of that first visit. He may have seen the photographs from the article over the years, including those showing him in a Barcelona shirt.
“But I don’t remember everything I said,” he added.
By then, his reputation had already begun to precede him. Before turning 20, he had added clubs such as PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool and Lazio to his career record.
Asked what it was like to face such high expectations from the beginning – and how it felt when he did not fulfil them – Adekanye paused before answering.
“You know what?” he said. “If I could go back to the moment of that interview, I would make exactly the same choice afterwards.”
After thinking for a few seconds, he added: “Because yes, I loved it, and actually I still love every moment.”
Adekanye spent three years at La Masia, FC Barcelona’s renowned academy. His time there ended abruptly after FIFA ruled that the club had breached regulations by bringing so many young foreign players to Catalonia.
He then spent a year in the PSV Eindhoven academy before another major European club, Liverpool, offered him an opportunity.
On Merseyside, Adekanye was eventually coached by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard in the Youth League. He said he was delighted to learn that Gerrard would be involved, although their relationship did not begin smoothly.
“I was thrilled to hear it,” Adekanye said. “However, during the first week, we did not immediately see eye to eye.”
Gerrard believed Adekanye dribbled too much and needed to pass more often. Adekanye responded that those were precisely the qualities that had brought him to Liverpool.
“Sometimes, he also played with us in training, and then he would always come looking for me and kick me,” Adekanye said.
The youngster occasionally received a dressing-down from Gerrard, whom he referred to as “Stevie G”.
He added with a laugh: “They say you should never meet your idols. That was certainly the case here.”
