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Gboly Ariyibi recalled by Nottingham Forest, has a shot at first team action

American defender Eric Lichaj recently made headlines for Nottingham Forest, now another seems set to join him there.

Forest is recalling Arlington, Virginia native Gboly Ariyibi from his season long loan at MK Dons. He scored seven times in 28 matches with the League One club this season. According to the Nottingham Post, there is speculation that the winger could see first team action after such a successful loan spell.

He arrived at Forest last summer, having spend the previous three years with Chesterfield, who had been relegated to League Two after last season. He scored four times in 96 matches with them.

Ariyibi has made appearances for the U.S. at the U-20 and U-23 levels, with five caps between the two. He has one goal with the U-23s back in 2015.

Comments

  1. LouisZ,

    This is true of most youth in the U.S. More clubs, Germany especially, are looking at our youth because the players are becoming much more skillful and technical. However, I also read that our youth are way behind in tactical awareness. That is where the reliance on size and speed at the youth level also hurts us. (besides the often mentioned prioritizing size and speed over technical ability) They seem to do ok with bunker and counter route 1, but any other style of play is often beyond them. I.e. the coaching at the youth level is sorely lacking.

    Reply
    • The problem isn’t size and speed over technical ability, it is size/speed/technique over TACTICAL ability. We don’t teach we, we teach me.
      This goes beyond coaching, it is a focus problem for youth sports in general. The coaching is doing exactly what the short term goal focused athletes/parents want. The scouts (college/pro) look for flash, not tactics. The thought is the same, we can always teach tactics down the road.

      Reply
    • Ariyibi lived in the US until 2 months old and then has lived in England, with a short time in Nigeria, so the US system can’t really be credited or blamed for any of his development.

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      • who cares……is that what we should be focusing on right now??!! He has represented the states at many youth levels so he clearly sees himself as American, i never understood peoples focus on where someone was born, or the amount of time they spent in a certain geographical region smh

  2. He has underperformed. The kid has excellent size and speed, his game has many moves, his issue is reading the freaking game. I hope he has improved enough to stay up in league.

    Reply
  3. I had hoped this was in the works when he didn’t dress for MK Dons for their FA Cup match. Hope he finds some time, he was really hot early in the season but only has 2 goals since September.

    Reply

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