Oladapo Afolayan has described his West Ham United debut a ”dream come true”, reports Completesports.com.
The Academy graduate marked his debut appearance for the Hammers with a goal as the London club beat Doncaster Rovers 4-0 in the FA Cup on Saturday.
The 23-year-old replaced Tomas Soucek in the second half of the encounter.
He showed great awareness to time his run into the box and finish after Ryan Fredericks drew a save from Ellery Balcombe which fell at the feet of the young Hammers sub.
Afolayan, who played against Tottenham for the U23s on Friday night, said: “I am delighted – it is a dream come true.
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“It has been a couple of years of hard work since I joined the club.
“I thought Ryan (Fredericks) was going to square it but he had a shot and I just followed it in.
“I played 60 minutes last night for the U23s. When I came off I got told I was in the squad for today.
“I just had to go home and prepare. All I can do is come in every day and work hard and pray I get opportunities and take them.
“I have played in the FA Cup before. To score in the fourth round here is a dream.”
5 Comments
@23 years old ?and scoring a rebound in an FA cup match and as substitute, nobody should start shouting for his invitation to the SE oooo.
True that Femi.LOL seeing for him play after for SE after that and the age (No way)
If we dig very well, the boy is younger than most players in our U20 team…if not our U17 team. At least we are confident he is using his real age and can still play some good football for another 10 years. So if he happens to be a late bloomer like Vardy, Dessers or Drogba and becomes a hit in 2-3 years time, why wouldnt he play for SE….??? Most of the so-called 23yr olds in the SE today, we know they are over 33 in real life…LMAO
@ Drey are you trying to say those our under age players names are Osondu/s
Oga Sir….we have been producing Osondus since U-football started and will continue to produce more until we have a fool-proof verifiable birth registration system in that country or when FIFA/CAF implements another methods of ensuring U-players are within specified brackets. Every U17 set since 2009 has always been “the youngest”….does that even make sense…..whom are we deceiving…??? That is why it is so difficult to build a SE team over a long term, bcos a 33 yr old will tell you he is 23yrs, and 3 or 4 years later when you expect him to peak, he is already on his way downhill bcos in reality he is approaching his 40s. If Jamie Vardy were to be an African he would probably still be claiming 25yrs old. If Oladapo warms his way into Westham 1st team by next season and becomes a regular 1st team starter like Saka in 2 seasons time and starts weighing in his fair share of goals in the EPL…let me see what will stop him from being invited to the SE.