New Union striker Ezekiel Alladoh speaks softly but hopes to carry many goals
The 20-year-old striker from Ghana arrived with a $4.5 million transfer fee, which creates immediate expectations. But he isn't talking himself up much so far, having just arrived in town this week.
Ezekiel Alladoh is a man of few words, at least so far.
Then again, the Union’s record signing just got to town this week, and won’t have been here long when the team leaves for Spain on Saturday.
“I’m just here for two days now — let’s [go] easy,” he said at practice Wednesday in his first interview with the local media. “It’s cold, but it’s not cold like in Sweden. And the time [zone] changing is a little bit hard for me, but it will be OK.”
The 20-year-old striker from Ghana arrived with a $4.5 million transfer fee, which creates immediate expectations. Last year, various reports in Europe said he had interest from Crystal Palace and Wolverhampton of the English Premier League, Leicester City of the second-tier Championship, and Belgium’s Club Brugge, Cercle Brugge, and Westerlo.
After the Union announced his signing in November, they sold Tai Baribo and said goodbye to Mikael Uhre as a free agent. That leaves Bruno Damiani as the only starting caliber-striker returning this season, so it’s natural to expect Alladoh to take the other starting spot.
Alladoh isn’t talking himself up too much, though.
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He said he met with sporting director Ernst Tanner (before Tanner was put on administrative leave) and manager Bradley Carnell, and they made the sale on coming here.
“They talked to me about the way they’re going to help me to make it in the league,” he said. “They have a good project here.”
Asked if the impact of global stars like Lionel Messi made MLS more attractive, Alladoh said: “It’s not a factor. I’m coming here to make my name.”
He has also become fast friends with Cameroon native Olivier Mbaizo. Though Mbaizo doesn’t play much, it’s a sign of his stature in the locker room that he’s part of the unofficial welcoming committee. The same happened with fellow French speaker Danley Jean Jacques of Haiti last year.
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“He talked to me about the club, that it’s like family,” Alladoh said of Mbaizo.
As for the tactical side of things, Alladoh is still getting used to that here. But he cited speed as one of his top assets, and he looks the part of a target player too: 6-foot-3 and 170 pounds.
“I like when it’s counterattack games,” he said, and that will fit the Union’s playing style just fine.
Alladoh likes the facilities, too, saying, “I cannot ask for something more than this.”
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He came to the Union from Swedish first division club Brommapojkarna, where he scored eight goals in 32 games over a year. BP, as the club is nicknamed, has seen three of its products become big names in the English Premier League: Arsenal’s Viktor Gyökeres and Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Bergvall and Dejan Kulusevski.
Alladoh said he wasn’t put under any pressure to follow in their footsteps, and that the club “just let me make my name.”
He also praised the Union for having “the same project like the team in Sweden: taking young guys and improving them.”
If Alladoh can have success — obviously if he can score goals — he will be the latest Union player to prove that true.
“Be first in the league again,” he said when asked what success this year would mean to him. “Help the team to have more trophies.”
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