Bobby Adekanye: former Barcelona and Liverpool winger would make the same career choices again

Bobby Adekanye says he would follow exactly the same path if he could relive the decisions that took him from Barcelona and Liverpool to the Lion City Sailors in Singapore.

The 27-year-old winger, whose explosive pace made him a highly regarded prospect, is now playing in Asia after spells with Go Ahead Eagles and in the Turkish second division. He previously represented PSV Eindhoven, Liverpool and Lazio before moving on to Singapore, where he has spent the past few months with the country’s biggest club.

Adekanye was born in Nigeria and 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 move abroad. Having left De Toekomst, he soon joined the FC Barcelona academy, La Masia, in Catalonia.

Fifteen years later, he spoke to the same publication by video call from a communal area in his apartment building in Singapore. His partner was cooking while speaking to her family on the phone.

“It is a bit quieter here at the moment,” he said.

Adekanye has only a vague memory of that original visit and does not remember everything he said in the interview. He may have seen the photographs from the article over the years, including images of him wearing a Barcelona shirt.

“But I don’t remember everything I said.”

His reputation was already growing before he turned 20, when he added some of Europe’s biggest clubs to his career record. That brought significant expectations, raising the question of what it feels like to be judged against such a promising early image, and how it feels when those expectations are not fulfilled.

“You know what?” Adekanye said.

“If I could go back to the moment of that interview, I would make exactly the same choices afterwards.”

After pausing briefly, he added: “Because yes, I loved it, and actually I still love every moment.”

Gerrard encounter at Liverpool

Adekanye spent three years at La Masia before his time at Barcelona ended abruptly. 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 the next step in his development.

During his time on Merseyside, Adekanye was coached in the Youth League by Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard. He was pleased to learn that Gerrard would be involved, although the pair did not immediately see the game in the same way.

“I was delighted to hear that,” Adekanye said. “However, during the first week, we did not click straight away.”

Gerrard believed Adekanye dribbled too often and needed to pass more. The youngster responded that those were precisely the qualities that had helped take him to Liverpool.

“Sometimes, he also played with us in training, and then he would always come looking for me and kick me.”

Adekanye occasionally had to accept a dressing-down from Gerrard. Laughing, he said: “They say you should never meet your idols; that was certainly true here.”