The former Newcastle United player is flourishing at Bolton Wanderers.
Sammy Ameobi says leaving Newcastle United for Bolton Wanderers has given him a new lease of life.
Ameobi was born and raised in Newcastle and followed in the footsteps of his older brother Shola by going on to represent his hometown team professionally.
But the winger finally severed his Magpies ties earlier this year, at the age of 25, and rejoined Bolton, for whom he had spent part of the previous campaign on loan.
After missing Bolton’s first nine games back in the Championship through injury, Ameobi was finally unleashed at the end of September.
And his return to the side has coincided with a revival for the previously winless Wanderers, who have won two and drawn three of the seven games in which he has featured.
Ameobi has certainly played his part, scoring three goals in that time, and he told the Sun: “It kind of feels like this is the start of my career. I’m getting out and playing every week. I feel in the best form ever and like I’ve got a new lease of life.”
Explaining his temporary departure from Newcastle, he added: “At the start of last season, (manager Rafa Benitez) said ‘We’ve looked at you and you’re not in our plans. You should find a new club or go on loan’. He sent me down to train with the reserve team.
“He is brutally honest but it is it how it is. Different managers have their different ways and that’s his, and that’s absolutely fine. I don’t have a problem with that and there are no hard feelings at all.
“When I came on loan to Bolton, to get to play week in, week out was something I’d never had before.”
But Ameobi’s January return to Tyneside did not go quite as he had hoped. ‘”It was a great honour to get called back because I love Newcastle and it’s my home. So to think I might get an opportunity there was great,” he added.
“But then again, when I realised that I was down the pecking order, it got a bit uncomfortable because it wasn’t what I wanted to do, I want to play every week. I realised then that it was time to move on.
“I grew up in Newcastle and it’s my home. For as long as I remember, there has always been an Ameobi there. But times change.”
Asked if he regrets not leaving Newcastle sooner, Ameobi replied: “It’s difficult to say. I’ve had periods where maybe I haven’t put in 100 per cent of the work that I know I should have. Maybe if I had, I might still be playing there now.
“After I came through and was two or three years in the first team, I was on the bench a lot which I found quite frustrating. There could have been moments with lapses of concentration.
“You think it’s going to last forever but that’s not the case. You have to put the work in. No matter how good you think you are, if you don’t work hard you’re not going to get anywhere.
“That’s something I wish I had learnt earlier in my career. But here I am and I’m grateful of the opportunity I’ve got here at Bolton. I’ll make the most of it and put the work in.”
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