Midfielder's Quick Exit from Old Gold to Ajax

A year after arriving from Genk with the promise of adding drive and goals from midfield, the 25-year-old’s chapter in old gold has closed almost as quickly as it began.

He leaves having made 38 appearances and scored six times for the club, three of those in the Premier League. The last of those league goals came in March against Brentford, a reminder of the punch he can carry when trusted with a run of games.

That trust faded as the season wore on. Although he was involved on the final day, the Nigerian international started only one of the club’s last ten fixtures, his role shrinking just as the campaign reached its decisive stretch.

Now comes a reset in Amsterdam. He joins an Ajax side that finished fifth in the Eredivisie last season, a bruising outcome by their standards, and one that has forced a rethink on and off the pitch. They will enter the Europa Conference League at the play-off stage, a competition that suddenly matters for a club accustomed to grander stages.

For Ajax, he offers energy, vertical running and a point to prove. For the player, it is a chance to step into a rebuilding giant and show that those flashes in England were the start, not the peak.