Tolu Arokodare - A Nigerian Powerhouse From Ligue 2

As the transfer window slammed shut in 2012, a little-known Belgian powerhouse Christen Benteke snook in the Premier League backstage door to little fanfare.

The striker would go on to blow the nets out of Villa Park, his pace and sheer power made the hotshot one of Villa’s finest transfer deals in living memory.

Gent were paid a measly seven-million-pounds for the starlet’s services in a time when American owner Randy Lerner had curtailed the lavish transfer spending of previous years.

Benteke forged a reputation as one of the Premier League’s most clinical forwards, he smashed 49 goals in 101 appearances in Claret and Blue.

In the summer of 2015 Liverpool activated the Belgian’s release clause and Villa received a transfer windfall, the striker commanded a transfer fee in excess of £30-million-pounds, a massive fee for the time.

To put it in perspective, the Benteke transfer value eclipsed both the reported fees for Memphis Depay PSV to Manchester United and Roberto Firmino Hoffenheim to Liverpool moves.

The Belgian and Villa were a match made in heaven, his career took a slide once he left B6 and in truth the midlands club have not had a striker of his prowess since.

In this Deep Dive Series, we will scour the footballing galaxy to find another little-known-powerhouse who could become the next bargain predator.

First stop France's second tier…

The Fertile Grounds of France’s Ligue 2

French football is basically a must-watch for football scouts, French footballing institutions produce a plethora of genius, boasting alumni that regularly go on to grace the global stage.

In recent times superstars such as Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante have been harvested from Ligue2 before going onto becoming global names of the game.

German football gurus regularly spy the division cutting out the middleman of a Ligue 1 club and plucking talent straight to the Bundesliga.

France internationals Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano, did not play a game in Ligue 1 before being lured to Germany.

Clubs in France prioritise youth development and selling talent is a natural component of their business model, in all cases bar the behemoths of PSG.

Often players who didn’t quite make the cut at top academies and clubs find themselves in the Ligue 2 second chance saloon.

And this is where the next Benteke just might be hiding…

Tolu Arokodare A Raw Nigerian Talent

Meet ‘Tolu’ a raw talent that has found himself in Ligue2 after an unsuccessful spell in Germany’s Bundesliga.

Back in 2020 Arokodare seemed to be on a trajectory to the higher echelons of the European game, his star shone bright enough in Lativa to alert one of the famous German clubs, the Billy Goats of FC Cologne.

19-year-old Arokodare was a scoring marvel for Valmiera, in 31 appearances in Lativa’s Virsliga the young Nigerian attacker blundered 22 goals and providing four assists 2019/2020 season.

Powerful, fast and full of the youthful abandon, a successful spell in German football seemed an inevitability.

Alas, nothing in life is guaranteed especially when it comes to transfer deals, defenders in the Bundesliga were far less forgiving than their Latvian counterparts and time on the pitch was hard to come by.

FC Cologne were struggling near the trapdoor of the Bundesliga relegation zone, not the friendliest ecosystem for a fledgling forward to grow.

Thrown into the fray in fits and spurts the Lagos-born player could not find his rhythm, his loan spell petered out with Markus Gisdol's side, that often only deployed a lone striker.

The furore he stirred in Lativa from his sensational scoring spurts seemed a distant memory, from his frustratingly torrid time of just 145 minutes of Bundesliga action across ten games, he scored nothing and never made the starting line-up.

A French Redemption

The German club turned their noses at the chance to sign the misfiring youngster permanently and in the summer of 2021, he was on the loan train once more.

SC Amiens offered the African a lifeline and a chance to halt his footballing regression, the player could have wilted from his confidence sapping German stint.

Instead, he embraced the tribulation, assimilating the lessons and hitting the reset button on his adventure, taking a detour to the French second tier.

The French side secured the player on a two-year-loan deal essentially signing the player on a permanent basis from his Latvian employers.

Last season, the striker scored 8 goals in 35 games as Amiens finished in 14th place under the tutelage of Philippe Hinschberger.

The French club are aiming to get back to Ligue1 following their relegation in 2020.

Tall in build and fast in speed, the striker is well suited to French football, the pace and directness of Nigerian strikers seems to thrive there, just look at Terem Moffi at Lorient who also started his career in Eastern Europe in Lithuania.

This season, the 22-year-old Arokodare, bolted out of the blocks, scoring five goals in his first ten Ligue2 games.

In the six games before the World Cup break goals deserted the young talent, tainting his stats somewhat.

Still, improvement is clearly evident, and it is a matter of when and not if ‘Tolu’ plays at a higher level, could he be the next Benteke like bargain waiting to tear a top league apart?

Only time will tell…

By Liam Scahill