Joshua King is a 25 year old forward who plays for Bournemouth, having previously had spells with Manchester United, Preston North End, Borussia Monchengladbach, Hull City and Blackburn Rovers.
Joshua KIng has scored 15 Premier League goals this season; only bonafide stars of the game Romelu Lukaku, Harry Kane, Diego Costa, Alexis Sanchez, Sergio Aguero, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Dele Alli have scored more. Prior to joining Bournemouth though, the Norwegians best tally for a season was 2 in the Championship. In this, the first instalment of Footballer in Focus, a new feature exclusive to HITC Sport, we take a look at the 25-year-old forward.
Born in Oslo to a Ghanian father and a Norwegian mother, King played for his local team in his early teens, before switching to Valerenga at the age of 15, where he was the youngest player in the club’s under-19’s side. It was also at 15 that Manchester United began their interest in the teenager, who was well-developed for his age, already standing at 5″9′ and possessing great pace and considerable strength.
Joshua King in his Manchester United debut vs Wolves
The youngster flew over to Manchester on multiple occasions, training with Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad and quickly impressing. It didn’t take long for United to decide they wanted the teenager on their books, and despite interest from the likes of Chelsea and Sunderland, King was keen on a move to Manchester. The Red Devils would have to wait until King was 16 to get their man though, due to UEFA rules. But sure enough, when the teenager turned 16, he arrived at Old Trafford.
He spent just over 12 months in the United academy before stepping up to reserve team football, where he would conveniently be coached and mentored by compatriot Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In his academy debut, Manchester United were somewhat ironically thrashed by Sunderland, the club who had been so keen to sign him months earlier. His form quickly improved though, and in 2009, Sir Alex confirmed the high regard he held him in by handing him a first team squad number.
Despite impressing, in a Manchester United team which could boast the likes of Wayne Rooney, Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov in attacking positions and Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Nani in wide areas whilst he was at the club, opportunities were inevitably hard to come by. In the five years Josh King was contracted to Manchester United, he made just two competitive appearances, both as a late substitute for Danny Welbeck, one coming against Wolves in the League Cup and the other against Galatasaray in the Champions League.
Joshua King in action for Preston North End
In that time, King was also loaned out away from Old Trafford, four times in fact. The first, to Preston North End, saw him link up with Sir Alex’s son Darren Ferguson. King was one of three United loanees that headed to Deepdale that season, all of whom would quickly be recalled by Sir Alex once his son had been sacked by Preston, in what seemed like a retaliation against the dismissal. Although his time at Preston was brief, King made 10 appearances, scoring once in the cup and putting in a man of the match performance in one league game.
A loan move to Borussia Monchengladbach at the start of the 2011-12 season always seemed like an attempt to run before he could walk. The German side finished fourth in the Bundesliga that season, inspired by the superb Marco Reus. Despite the step up in standard, frustratingly for King, it was largely injuries which saw him make just two appearances for the club before his loan move was terminated.
The same season he swapped the Bundesliga for a second crack at the Championship with Hull City. Brought to the club by Nick Barmby, King played the most regular football of his career at that point, turning out 19 times for the Tigers. His injury lay-off had given him plenty of time in the gym, and that was reflected in his physique. As well as his tremendous pace, the youngster was now capable of bustling past opponents.
Joshua King celebrates scoring for Hull City
You often hear players being described as ‘raw’ or a ‘raw talent’, well, Joshua King was the epitome of a raw talent during his time at Hull City. His sheer pace and directness got bums off seats, and when he received the ball with plenty of unoccupied grass in front of him, there was reason to get excited. His technical ability was not yet well-refined though, and his decision making often left a lot to be desired, as it often does with inexperienced young players.
He scored once for Hull City during his most impressive display, a 2-1 win over Middlesbrough, but hardly set the world alight during the loan spell. The following season he went on-loan to Blackburn Rovers who, after 8 league games and 2 goals, decided to sign him from Manchester United in January of that season. Sadly for Rovers, King didn’t score for the club from January onwards. Despite allowing him freely to move on, Sir Alex Ferguson predicted a positive future for the player briefly before his departure, stating, “He’s very quick with a great physique and he should have a good career.”
His second season at Ewood Park was a tale of frustration. Either played out wide rather than in his preferred role up front or not played at all, King began to see his future lying outside of Blackburn. He rejected the club’s contract offer with his deal up at the end of the season before moving on a free transfer to Bournemouth. The move was a smart one. Blackburn fans were surprised he had got a Premier League move, as were Bournemouth’s, but there are few finer in the game for developing a player of KIng’s ilk than Eddie Howe.
Eddie Howe has been integral to the development of King
The dreadful injury record of Callum Wilson meant King was called upon far more than Howe probably ever anticipated when he handed the Norwegian a three-year deal, and at first, King struggled. He went twelve games, playing as a centre-forward, without a goal, before finally breaking his Cherries duct with a goal at Swansea City. King ended his first season on the south coast with 7 goals from 35 appearances. Not great, but not disastrous, and he finished the season with a great deal more credit than he had began it with.
He started this season in a similar vein, scoring only twice in his first 17 outings for the club, but then things started to click. The 25-year-old scored at the Liberty Stadium once more on New Years Eve, and followed that up with a goal against Watford in January. February brought another three, before bagging four in March, including a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over West Ham. Another four goals in April made him the Premier League’s top scorer in the calendar year of 2017, some achievement.
What’s changed then? Why is a man whose best ever tally in the Championship was 2 goals scoring for fun in the Premier League? Well, he’s using his physique far better than he ever has done before. Despite always being a strong lad, King hasn’t always been able to use that to manipulate play, but now he can. He doesn’t get shoved off the ball and provides an outlet for the Cherries now. Then there’s the fact he’s thinking less. Many of his finishes have been instinctive, just look at his strikes against Everton and Liverpool, that’s a striker acting on instinct and playing with confidence.
Joshua King finds the back of the net for Bournemouth
Ultimately though, Joshua King’s rise is a story of sheer will and determination. Even from his earliest teenage years in Norway, the one outstanding attribute of King’s along with his pace was his mental strength. How many players have joined a top Premier League side, failed to make the grade and faded away? From Manchester United alone you could list off the likes of Federico Macheda, John Cofie, Gabriel Obertan and more, all of whom were very highly-rated at one time but have since fallen off the map.
King could so easily have joined that list. He had bad luck with injuries, bad luck with loan moves and his technical ability alone was nowhere near sufficient to dig him out of that hole. An asthma sufferer since a young age who grew up in one of the toughest neighbourhoods in Oslo, King is a fighter and a grafter, and it is that will and determination which has seen him outscore the likes of Christian Benteke and Olivier Giroud this season.
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