While the Premier League may be the be end game and ultimate goal for many footballers, it wasn’t for Oladapo Afolayan, as Chelsea found out 13-years-ago.
The FC St. Pauli winger has been speaking to Hamburger Abendblatt about his career to date and his decision to turn down Chelsea when he was just 14 years old.
Afolayan currently plays for St. Pauli in the Bundesliga after joining them in a €600,000 deal from Bolton in January 2023.
It’s the latest step in what’s been a varied career for him to date after he started out with Loughborough and went on to play for Solihull Moors, West Ham, Oldham Athletic, Mansfield Town and then Bolton.
It was a tough journey up the ranks for the 27-year-old, who joined West Ham’s U21’s in January 2018 and made 36 appearances for them but only managed one, 20-minute appearance in West Ham’s first team.
He’s now impressing at St. Pauli, with 14 goals and six assists in 56 games to date after joining them a year ago.
His career path could have been a very different one, though, as he was once wanted by Chelsea to play alongside the likes of Dominic Solanke, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori.
Afolayan and his family turned down the idea, though, preferring to continue his studies than take that path.
“I’ve known Tammy and the other guys since I was eight. We’re still friends,” he explained.
“At the time, Chelsea had the best youth academy in the world. 60% to 70% of the players I played with as an eight-year-old are now professionals in the best leagues in Europe.
“My parents and I sat down and weighed up the arguments. At first, I was disappointed, but then I quickly realized that it was the right decision. My parents always said that football is great, but it’s not everything in life.
“It would have been a big risk to sacrifice education for such a step. I know guys who did things differently back then and then didn’t make it to the pros. It’s much harder for them now because they have to catch up on their education.
“I loved going to my school and learning together with my friends. I still enjoy learning new things today,”
