Sheyi Ojo scored a sublime goal against Exeter on Wednesday to become Liverpool’s youngest FA Cup goal scorer ever. Can Ojo make it big at Anfield? Can he break into Liverpool’s first team soon? Let’s see what Ojo is all about.
Basic Player Profile:
Oluwaseyi Babajide “Sheyi” Ojo was born on 12th June, 1997 and now is 18 years old. Ojo is half Nigerian and half English. He is of English nationality and has played for England’s U-19 side. The youngster is 177 cm (5 feet and 9 inches) tall and weighs 64kg (Source: Whoscored.com). His preferred position is the left wing but can also play on the right wing and also as an attacking midfielder. He is left footed and is currently wearing the No.54 for Liverpool.
History:
Sheyi Ojo started his career with MK Dons. By the age of 13 he played for their U-18 side and also trained with their first team. In November 2011, at the age of 14 he was bought by Liverpool for a fee believed to be in the region of 2 million fending of competition from other top teams like Chelsea. He continued his development at Liverpool’s academy. He was named on Liverpool’s bench few times in the 2014-15 season.
Then in the January transfer window of the same season, he moved to Wigan Athletic on loan. He was named as Wigan’s Man Of The Match in his debut game against Bournemouth, when he came on as a substitute and had a positive impact on the game. Though he was not able to get on the score sheet for Wigan, he made some effective appearances for them.
After he returned from his loan, he scored a goal for Liverpool in their pre-season friendly against Swindon. The youngster soon signed a long term contract with Liverpool and then joined Wolverhampton on loan until the end of season (2015-16) where he was able to score two goals and assist three more.
But Liverpool’s injury crisis meant that he was recalled from his loan and despite his fine performances for Wolves, he was not getting enough game time, so bringing him back from loan looked like the best thing to do. On 8th January he made his official debut for Liverpool against Exeter in the third round of the FA Cup. He came on as a substitute and had a positive impact on the game. The game ended in a 2-2 draw which meant that Liverpool will have to play a replay against Exeter. Ojo scored his first goal for Liverpool in the replay against Exeter and became Liverpool’s youngest FA Cup goal scorer.
Playing Style:
Ojo is one of the best talents Liverpool academy have at the moment. His dribbling and first touch are class, but when we look at his game for Liverpool U-19’s we can see that his decision making is poor. He would just dribble the ball past a defender when he has a better choice. After all, lots of youngsters have poor decision making.
His major strengths are dribbling and first touch. He is comparable to Jordon Ibe, who is also a great dribbler. And his major weakness is his decision making. He has improved a lot on that, but still he has a lot more to do to become a first team player. Other than that we cannot find any weakness in Ojo’s game.
Final Verdict:
Ojo has got all the ingredients to make it big at Anfield. He made positive impacts in his first two senior appearances for Liverpool and was able to score a class goal in one of them. He needs playing time to step up his development and appearances in Liverpool’s cup matches will help a lot. It would have been great if he was able to move to a premier club on loan but Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, has said that he won’t be allowing Liverpool’s best talents to go on loan.
That does not mean Klopp will let Ojo continue his development with the academy, but the German will definitely give the youngster chances. Jurgen Klopp is the best man to bring the best in talents like Ojo. It won’t be surprising if Sheyi Ojo breaks into Liverpool’s first team soon.
