After learning he could not feature for Barcelona in any competitive club matches, Bobby Adekanye left the Champions of Europe after spending the past season on loan at PSV Eindhoven.
The 16-year-old posted a picture to Instagram with the caption: “I am very happy to sign for Liverpool.”
The 170cm left-winger was born on 14 February 1999 in Ibadan, Nigeria, the same city in which Crystal Palace’s Under-16 coach John Salako was born.
He left Nigeria for Amsterdam with his parents when he was only four years old, but he is eligible to represent Nigeria internationally even though he has already featured for Holland’s Under-16s.
Adekanye proceeded to join the Ajax youth system at a young age, where he was photographed with Luis Suárez before a match when the Uruguayan was still at Ajax.
After an impressive campaign in the 2010-11 season for Ajax, the youngster signed with Barcelona, while his parents were offered jobs and a house in the city.
Adekanye shined in his three seasons with the Barcelona youth system. However, FIFA ruled Barcelona had broken youth transfer regulations multiple times over the past few seasons, with Adekanye on the list of several youth players who had been illegally signed by the club.
Therefore, Adekanye, along with the other youth players on the list, was banned from featuring for Barcelona in any competitive club matches.
He joined PSV Eindhoven in January 2015, where he was beginning to be compared to Arjen Robben of Bayern Munich.
At the end of the season, Adekanye had offers to return to Ajax or join PSV permanently, but in the end he chose Liverpool with the promise of possibly featuring for the first team in the near future.
