Benik Afobe
Benik Afobe, 2012
Benik Afobe Tunani (born 12 February 1993 Leyton, London) is an English footballer of Congolese descent, who is under contract at Arsenal since 2010, but so far only came in the reserve team for use.
Career
Association
Benik Afobe came into the youth academy of Arsenal FC at the age of six years; before he was discovered at a local branch of Scouts. In the 2007 /08 season he scored forty goals for the U -16, 2008/ 09, he met in thirteen games and eleven times in 2009/10 he scored for the U -18 21 goals in 24 games. This season he was voted player of the year. In February 2010, he signed his first professional contract with Arsenal after he was also observed from FC Barcelona.
On November 20, 2010, he was loaned out for two months at Huddersfield Town in Football League One. He made his debut the same night in a 2-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday. After the game he got high praise from his coach and long-time Newcastle United player Lee Clark. He scored his first two goals in the Football League Trophy in a 5-2 victory over Rotherham United. After the rental period on January 4 was over, he returned on January 28 to end of the season back to Huddersfield Town. Due to the serious injury of Anthony Pilkington he got in the second half permanently a regular place and was four times elected "Man of the Match". Despite Afobe 's good performances in 28 league games he scored five goals, managed Huddersfield in the playoffs not to qualify for the new season in the Football League Championship. At the end of the season he returned to London.
In the pre-season 2011/12 he left the Emirates Cup a good impression when he came off the bench in the game against the New York Red Bulls in 7 minutes of Jack Wilshere due to injury, but had also injured in the 74th minute back out.
On 22 March 2012 Afobe was awarded for the remainder of the season at Reading FC, where he, however, came only three league operations. On August 3, he moved initially for one year on loan to Bolton Wanderers. Just one day later, he came in a friendly match against Portsmouth on his debut in the jersey of the Trotters. A few days later, he scored in a 3-1 friendly win over the Tranmere Rovers all three goals for Bolton. After he came off the bench in his first league game against Burnley in the second half for Kevin Davies and two additional inserts had by Substitutes, he graduated in the League Cup against Crawley Town made his debut in the starting lineup, where he led the interim 1:0 - leadership achieved. On 23 October, he scored in a 2-2 draw against Wolverhampton Wanderers his first goal of the season. Although the loan period should run until the end of the season, Afobe already returned in January 2013 back to Arsenal.
In February 2013 Afobe was on loan at Millwall FC, but after only five games for the Lions threw him back a knee injury and he was no longer operational until the end of the loan period.
National
Afobe led the English U -12 national team at the Junior World Cup in France in 2005 as a captain. In 2008 he was part of the squad, which the Victory Shield began, where he scored four goals in three games. So he set the record for the most hits in the U -16 by Michael Owen. With the U-17 national team, he won the U-17 Football Championship in May 2010. In August 2010 he took the plunge into the U-19 national team. In June 2011, he was part of the U-20 squad for the U-20 World Cup in Colombia, but was recalled by Arsenal FC to complete the pre-season training with the pros.
On 13 November 2012, he made his debut in the English U-21 national team against Northern Ireland and also achieved the same score.
Personal
His father came in 1990 due to the political unrest in the Congo to England. Afobe attended Monteagle Primary School and Jo Richardson Community School, both in Dagenham. He has two sisters and a brother.
Achievements
- Premier Academy League: 2009/10
- Football League Championship 2011/12
- Victory Shield: 2008
- U-17 European Football Championships 2010