Jonathan Afolabi narrowly missed out on Ireland’s PFA Player of the Year award this week but his inclusion on the shortlist is testament to how the striker has rebuilt his career since a frustrating spell at Celtic.
Speaking to The Independent back in February, the former Southampton starlet was keen to point out that he does not view his time at Celtic as ‘three wasted years’.
Jonathan Afolabi would, perhaps, do things a little differently if he had his time again. But with the likes of Odsonne Edouard and Kyogo Furuhashi keeping him out of the Celtic XI, Afolabi is refreshingly understanding about why things didn’t work out for him at Parkhead, taking those lessons and learning from them.
“I can’t say it was three wasted years. I learned the levels you need to be at,” Afolabi explained. “How professional you need to be, what hard work you need.”
Former Celtic man Jonathan Afolabi in stunning form
The sight of Afolabi leaving the Scottish champions for Irish outfit Bohemians during the summer of 2022 may have had the critics accusing the striker of taking a major step backwards. But, with teams in Belgium’s top-flight and England’s second-tier now courting him, that so-called ‘step backwards’ has preceded two in the right direction.
With two against Cork City over the weekend, Afolabi took his tally to 20 goals from 40 appearances during the 2023 campaign. Add in those seven assists, and you can see why the Dublin-born 23-year-old was nominated for the PFA Irish Player of the Year award, even if he missed out on the chance to add another piece of silverware to Golden Boot trophy he shares with Shelbourne’s Jack Moylan.
Player of the Year nominee
“Afolabi is a special player,” Bohemians coach Declan Devine told the Irish Independent of the late-blooming forward, who did not make a single first-team appearance in three years at Celtic but is certainly making up for that now.
“I think his confidence is sky high. He scares defenders with his ability to hold the ball up on his chest.”
Devine, understandably, is keen to enjoy Afolabi as long as he can, with speculation and interest the inevitable by-product of his stunning campaign.
“We want him to stay where he is as long as possible,” the Bohs boss adds.
“But let’s look at the bigger picture, there’s not many Johnathan Afolabi’s about. “I’m sure there’ll be eyes watching him but we don’t want them eyes on him too much at the minute, as he’s a key component in what we’re trying to do here. All he has to do is enjoy his football.”
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