Ola Aina

Temitayo Olufisayo Olaoluwa "Ola" Aina (born 8 October 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a wing-back for Premier League club Fulham, on loan from Torino, and the Nigeria national team.

Ola Aina
Personal information
Full name Temitayo Olufisayo Olaoluwa Aina[1]
Date of birth (1996-10-08) 8 October 1996[2]
Place of birth Southwark, London, England
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.82 m)[2]
Position(s) Wing-back
Club information
Current team
 Fulham
(on loan from Torino)
Number 34
Youth career
2007–2015 Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2019 Chelsea 3 (0)
2017–2018 → Hull City (loan) 44 (0)
2018–2019 → Torino (loan) 30 (1)
2019– Torino 32 (0)
2020– → Fulham (loan) 17 (1)
National team‡
2011–2012 England U16 6 (0)
2012–2013 England U17 11 (0)
2013 England U18 1 (0)
2013–2015 England U19 13 (0)
2015–2016 England U20 4 (0)
2017– Nigeria 17 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:06, 1 February 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:34, 17 November 2019 (UTC)

Club career

Early career

Ola Aina signed for Chelsea as an under-11 and made his youth team debut as a schoolboy in the 2012–13 season and went on to start in both legs of the semi-final and final of the FA Youth Cup. In his youth career, he has also represented Chelsea in the under-18s, under-19s, and under-21 levels.[3] On 19 July 2014, Aina made his first-team debut in a pre-season friendly against AFC Wimbledon, after Todd Kane's injury. Aina started the match and was substituted at half-time for Branislav Ivanović as Chelsea went on to win 3–2.[4]

Before the 2015–16 season, he was included in the pre-season tour, playing three matches in the International Champions Cup. After impressing Chelsea manager José Mourinho, Aina was included in the first-team squad for the campaign. Although he spent the entire season training full-time with the first-team, he continued his role in the under-21s and under-19s sides.[3] On 23 September 2015, Aina was included in the match-day squad against Walsall in the fourth round of the League Cup, although he was an unused substitute.[5]

Due to a lack of first-team opportunities, Aina refused a new contract despite his current contact ending at the end of the season.[6]

2016–17 season

On 6 July 2016, he signed a new four-year contract, ending the rumours of him leaving the London side.[7] After signing a new contract, Aina was included in the travelling squad to Austria and the United States. He went on to play in all six pre-season matches. On 23 August 2016, Aina was given his professional debut by manager Antonio Conte in a 3–2 victory over Bristol Rovers in the EFL Cup, being replaced by John Terry in the 77th minute.[8] On 15 October 2016, he made his Premier League debut in a 3–0 victory over reigning champions Leicester City, replacing goalscorer Victor Moses in the 82nd minute.[9]

Loan to Hull City

On 11 July 2017, Chelsea announced that they had loaned Aina to Championship side Hull City.[10] He made his debut on the opening day of the season, 5 August 2017, away to Aston Villa, in a 1–1 draw.[11] He scored the only goal in a 1–0 defeat of Blackburn Rovers in the third-round of the FA Cup on 6 January 2018.[12]

Torino

On 14 August 2018, Aina joined Italian club Torino on a season-long loan after signing a new three-year deal with Chelsea.[13] He made his Serie A debut a few days later in Torino's 0–1 opening day defeat at home to Roma, coming on as a substitute in place of fellow right-back Lorenzo De Silvestri who went off injured after just 25 minutes.[14] Aina scored his first goal for Torino in a match against Udinese on 2 February 2019.[15] Aina made 30 Serie A appearances in what was a strong season for Il Toro, whose seventh place finish secured a Europa League qualifying spot.[16]

On 11 June 2019, Torino triggered Aina's option to permanently transfer from Chelsea for a reported fee of £9 million.[17] He was a regular again during his second season in Turin, playing 37 times in all competitions.[16]

2020–21 season: Loan to Fulham

On 11 September 2020, Aina returned to the Premier League, signing for Fulham on an initial season-long loan with an option to make the deal permanent.[16] On 2 November, Aina scored his first goal for the club, and in the Premier League, in a 2–0 home win over West Brom, shooting into the top-left corner from outside the penalty area.[18] The strike was later selected as the goal of the month by the Premier League.[19] Aina became the third Fulham player to win the Budweiser Goal of the Month award, after Jean Michaël Seri and André Schürrle both won the prize in 2018–19.[19]

International career

England youth teams

Aina has represented England at under-16, under-17, under-18, under-19 and England under-20 levels.

Nigeria
Aina with Nigeria against Argentina, Uzomedia

On 28 March 2017, Aina was pictured alongside Chuba Akpom of Arsenal after discussions with Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick.[20] In May 2017, Aina pledged his international future to Nigeria and obtained a Nigerian passport in preparation to making the switch from England to Nigeria.[21][22] In the same month, he was called up for the first time to play for Nigeria.[23]

In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[24] However, he did not make the final 23.[25] He was later recalled into the squad and played a major role in the team's qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations held in Egypt. He played the first match against tournament debutant Burundi, assisting the only goal of the match.

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 30 January 2021[26]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chelsea 2015–16 Premier League 000000000000
2016–17 Premier League 301020——60
Total 301020000060
Hull City (loan) 2017–18 Championship 4402100——461
Torino (loan) 2018–19 Serie A 30120———321
Torino 2019–20 Serie A 32020—30—370
Total 62140003000691
Fulham (loan) 2020–21 Premier League 1711010——191
Career total 1262813030001403

    International
    As of matches played on 17 November 2019[27]
    Nigeria
    YearAppsGoals
    201730
    201840
    2019100
    Total170

    Honours

    Club

    Chelsea Youth[28]

    Individual

    References
    1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
    2. "Ola Aina". 11v11.com. AFS Enterprises. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
    3. "Ola Aina Chelsea Profile". Chelsea F.C. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
    4. "Match report: AFC Wimbledon 2 Chelsea 3". Chelsea F.C. 19 July 2014. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
    5. "Walsall 1–4 Chelsea". BBC Sports. 23 September 2015. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
    6. "Arsenal join transfer race to sign Chelsea's England Under-21 right-back Ola Aina". 11 January 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
    7. "Aina seals new deal". Chelsea F.C. 6 July 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
    8. "Chelsea 3–2 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
    9. "Chelsea 3–0 Leicester City". BBC Sport. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
    10. "First loan for Aina". Chelsea Official Site. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
    11. "Aston Villa 1–1 Hull City". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
    12. "Blackburn Rovers 0–1 Hull City". BBC Sport. BBC. 6 January 2018. Retrieved 6 January 2018.
    13. "New contract and loan for Aina". Chelsea Official Site. 14 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
    14. "Fixtures and Results - Season 2018-19 - 1^ Match Day - Lega Serie A". www.legaseriea.it. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
    15. "Torino vs. Udinese 1-0". Soccerway. 2 February 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    16. "Ola Aina joins on loan". Fulham. 11 September 2020.
    17. "Torino confirm Ola Aina's permanent capture from Chelsea". Goal. 10 June 2019. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
    18. "Fulham on the up after Ola Aina seals first win of season against West Brom". The Guardian. 2 November 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
    19. "Aina earns Budweiser Goal of the Month award". Premier League. 13 December 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
    20. Oludare, Shina (28 March 2017). "Chelsea's Ola Aina, Brighton and Hove Albion's Chuba Akpom pledge allegiance to Nigeria". Goal Nigeria. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
    21. "NFF confirms Ola Aina, Joel Bazee now have Nigerian passports, Tammy Abraham to follow". 12 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
    22. "NFF formally applies for Aina's int'l switch – Vanguard News". 4 May 2017. Retrieved 15 May 2017.
    23. "Chelsea's Ola Aina gets Nigeria call". Retrieved 17 May 2017.
    24. Adewoye, Gbenga (6 June 2018). "'Maybe next time,' Ola Aina unruffled missing out in Nigeria World Cup Squad". Goal. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
    25. "World Cup 2018: Arsenal's Iwobi in Nigeria's 23-man squad". BBC Sport. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
    26. Ola Aina at Soccerway. Retrieved 8 January 2017.
    27. Ola Aina at National-Football-Teams.com
    28. "Ola Aina's Profile". Chelsea F.C. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2016.
    29. "Aina wins November Budweiser Goal of the Month award". Premier League. 11 December 2020. Retrieved 11 December 2020.
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