Who is ‘the little Messi’ of Nigeria who can count on the interest of Ajax?

Sunday, November 28, 2021 at 00:00• Jordi Tomasowa • Last update: 23:28

In collaboration with Goal, Voetbalzone regularly highlights young players who can go far in the future or who are already earning their spurs in (inter)national top football. This time the focus is on the nineteen-year-old attacker Akinkunmi Amoo, who was directly involved in eighteen goals this calendar year with Hammarby and can count on the interest of various clubs, including Ajax.

When Amoo signed a four-year deal with Sweden’s Hammarby in June 2020, even he could not have imagined that the next 17 months of his career would go like this. Former head coach Stefan Billborn wanted to slowly fit him into the team, but his rapid development under Milos Milojevic has led to his big break. Amoo is now followed by clubs from the biggest European competitions. Since Alexander Kacaniklic left for six-time Croatian champion Hajduk Split in February, the teenager has seized his chance and has become an integral part of Hammarby’s starting eleven.

Amoo has so far this season good for thirteen goals and five assists. He has two more league matches to further boost his goal production. The step made from Ibadan, Nigeria, to Hammarby is quite special. The Stockholm club may be known for scouting young talent and then developing it, but Amoo has been anything but blown away. His transfer to Europe was also made more difficult by the corona pandemic, but any adjustment problems are not noticeable on the pitch. “I have worked hard during the lockdown in Nigeria because it is not easy to play football at a professional level. So I had to make the necessary efforts,” said the attacker shortly after his arrival in Scandinavia. “The coaches have welcomed me like a son and I talk to them regularly.”

Amoo has rarely been in contact with competitive football. The fact that he has managed to adapt almost seamlessly in Sweden is a credit to his drive and determination. The youth international is a product of the Brightville academy in Ibadan, but left his hometown for a move to Sido’s FC in Lagos, which in turn opened the door to competing in leading youth tournaments two years ago. In 2019, for example, he was active with Nigeria Under 17 at the Africa Cup and the World Cup. although the Golden Eagles Couldn’t claim both titles, Amoo did put himself on the map with a goal at the Africa Cup in Tanzania and three assists at the Under-17 World Cup in Brazil.

Amoo ignored the interest of AC Milan and AS Monaco and then gave preference to Hammarby. The Swedish club had been eyeing him for about two years before signing him for nearly €200,000 in 2020. In just one year, the youngster has fulfilled his ambition to become a fixture in the first team of bajen to become. He also remembers his first conversation with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the well-known co-owner of Hammarby. “It was unbelievable. I was very impressed and happy. Ibrahimovic is an incredibly good footballer that I look up to, but above all a very nice person,” Amoo told in June last year. SportsExpress.

“We talked a lot when we met and he gave me advice for the future. It felt like I got even more courageous after our conversation,” the teenager continued about Ibrahimovic. “Zlatan said I have to dare to play my game, stay focused all the time and not be afraid of anyone, because then I will develop.” The top talent wants to win the second Allsvenskan title in club history with Hammarby, participate in the Champions League and simply play games in front of his mother. It underlines Amoo’s high ambitions as well as his youthful age.

In the meantime, the youngster is already making a name for himself. He was instrumental this year in Hammarby’s first ever win of the Svenska Cupen, the Swedish equivalent of the TOTO KNVB Cup. Amoo scored four times en route to the final. In December 2020, he was accurate twice against FC Gute (5-0) during his debut in the cup tournament. One of his greatest examples is Lionel Messi. “I often hear that I have the same playing style as Messi, so sometimes I get the little Messi called,” said Amoo. “He is my role model.”

At 1.63 meters, Amoo is even six centimeters shorter than his big idol. Like the Argentinian, he likes to position himself on the right wing and tends to slump into midfield to mix with fellow players or make passes to the other flank to open up the field. Amoo often only needs half a meter to shoot at target. That said, his goal attempts lack the accuracy of his idol Messi, an expected flaw due to his young age.

That Amoo is still so unpolished is normal for someone with so little experience. A reality that Jesper Jansson, Hammarby’s director of football affairs, foresaw when the Nigerian signed with the club. “With Akinkunmi we are bringing in an explosive, skilled and attacking player,” he said at the time. “Amoo is a refined left leg, but we have to remember that he just turned eighteen, so we have to be patient and work with him to develop his great qualities.”

His touch is not always good, his shots are sometimes a bit out of focus and he sometimes has a tendency to make apparently easy passes wrong. Yet, according to the Swedish medium, Amoo is Fotbollddirect being watched by the likes of Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, Leicester City and Valencia, while there is increasing talk of a first call-up to the Nigerian national team. The talent has only made ten appearances for the Nigeria Under-17s so far. While he is unlikely to ever match or surpass Messi’s achievements, the determination of the teenage sensation of Hammarby to succeed is encouraging. It’ll be interesting to see where Amoo’s ceiling will eventually be, but he’s a player to watch for sure.