West Bromwich Albion of England defender, Semi Ajayi has shot his mind back at his early days growing through stages in the round leather game, and recalled that he went through many rough, tough and bumpy paths at Arsenal and a couple of other British clubs, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although he eventually went on to captain Arsenal’s under-23 team, the Super Eagles’ rookie recalled that his advent into the scheme of things at Emirates Stadium did not come on a platter of gold, and he even had to move to Cardiff City of Wales at a point.
Even after finally settling down and proving his mettle with The Gunners, Ajayi recounted that he was never considered good enough for competitive matches with their main team, and the best he got were regular training sessions with the squad, until he opted to move on, even after holding contract extension talks with the officials prior to his departure in March 2015.
He conceded that he actually felt his time to shine with The Gunners had come when a spate of injuries started ravaging the main squad in the first half of the 2014/15 season, and he made the match day selections for three English Premier League matches and one League Cup clash, but the best he got was only being rated as their third choice center back.
Ajayi saw himself fall down the pecking order with the arrival of Gabriel Paulista from Villarreal in January 2015 and was forced to hold crunch talks with the manager, Arsene Wenger, who only encouraged him to try his luck out on trial at Sunderland and Ipswich Town of England, as well as Ajax Amsterdam of Holland, but he eventually settled for Cardiff City.
It was six months after he departed Arsenal that Ajayi eventually made his professional debut, against Northampton Town, yet is was not with The Bluebirds, but during a loan spell with AFC Wimbledon, from where he gained attention for the switch to Rotterham United, from which he moved to West Brom last summer, following the relegation of the club that shot him upwards.
Ajayi said on Instagram Live: “I went to Cardiff City after Arsenal, I left Arsenal at 21. My second season at Arsenal I was dying to get near to the first team, I trained with them every day. There were only two proper center backs at the time.
“Just Laurent Koscielny and Mertesacker; but we had Monreal and Bacary Sagna, who would fill in at center back sometimes. So, even if I was third choice center back, I was more like the fifth choice. I just carried on working and we were talking about extending my contract for another year or two years because I have been doing well but in January they signed a center back.
“I remember there was an injury crisis at one time, everyone was injured, and I was getting on the bench in the Premier League and I was thinking I was getting a chance and another injury happened and he put Debuchy center back ahead of me.
“I was 21 yet to make my professional debut and another center back ahead of me so maybe I need to leave. I spoke to the boss Wenger, ‘what’s going on, I was third choice now, I ‘m down the pecking order and I’m at an age where I want to play and I feel like I’m ready to play.’
“Wenger said if I can find another club that want to take me and I’m happy to go, he’d be happy to let me leave. Then trialing started again, I went to Sunderland who were in the Premier League at the time, I went to Ajax Amsterdam for two weeks, I went to Ipswich Town and the last team I went to was Cardiff City.
“When I got to Cardiff City, I could see myself kicking on here, they were just coming out of the Premier League and got a few young players around, I thought this would be a good move for me. I went to Cardiff on loan initially and then signed permanently after.”
