George Elokobi

George Elokobi

Elokobi playing for Nottingham Forest in 2012
Personal information
Full name	George Nganyuo Elokobi[1]
Date of birth	(1986-01-31) 31 January 1986[1]
Place of birth	Mamfe, Cameroon
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current team	Oldham Athletic
Number	5
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2004	Dulwich Hamlet	?	(?)
2004–2008	Colchester United	39	(2)
2005	→ Chester City (loan)	5	(0)
2008–2014	Wolverhampton Wanderers	85	(2)
2012	→ Nottingham Forest (loan)	12	(0)
2012	→ Bristol City (loan)	1	(0)
2014–	Oldham Athletic	18	(3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:32, 1 February 2015 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

George Nganyuo Elokobi (born 31 January 1986) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a defender for English League One club Oldham Athletic.

Elokobi moved from his native Cameroon to England aged 16 and soon entered non-league football. He was signed by league club Colchester United in 2004, where he caught the attention of Wolverhampton Wanderers to whom he moved in 2008. He was part of their promotion-winning squad to the Premier League the following year, playing over fifty games in the top flight,^[3] and remaining with the club until 2014.

Early years

Elokobi was born in Mamfe, Cameroon.^[4] He was aged 11 when he lost both his father (to diabetes) and a grandfather. In that same year he was left to live with his grandmother, while his mother moved to England to study. Having gained her qualifications, she found work and was able to send her son to one of the best boarding schools in Cameroon (St. Joseph's College Sasse). At the age of 16 he moved to London to join her, at first attending college to study business, IT and sociology. However, his football career soon took off as his main focus.^[5]

Club career

Move to England

Soon after arriving in the UK in 2002, and while living in Welling, Elokobi joined non-League Dulwich Hamlet, before stepping up to league football with Colchester United in June 2004.^[6] He did not feature for the team in his first season and was loaned to Chester City for a month in early 2005, working under Ian Rush.^[7] He made five appearances for Chester, including his professional debut against Swansea City on 29 January 2005. However, the spell did not go well with Chester losing all five games and Elokobi being sent off in his final appearance for the club at Shrewsbury Town.

He made a further 10 league appearances in the 2006–07 season as the team consolidated itself in the Championship, and went on to establish himself as a regular first team player in the early months of the following campaign. However, he was later dropped from the team for several matches, prompting him to hand in a transfer request.^[8]

Wolves

Elokobi's transfer request at Colchester alerted fellow Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers to sign him in a two-and-a-half-year deal for £300,000 on 31 January 2008.^[9][10] He quickly became first-choice left-back at Molineux, but his run in the side was ended when he suffered a knee-ligament injury just three games into the 2008–09 season.^[11] The injury kept him on the sidelines until the final game of the season at home to Doncaster Rovers, after which the club lifted the Championship trophy having been promoted to the Premier League after a five-year absence.^[12]

The defender appeared regularly for Wolves in the Premier League, largely competing with Stephen Ward for the left back role. He scored his first Wolves goal in a League Cup tie against Manchester United on 26 October 2010.^[13] His first league goal for the club also came against Manchester United on 5 February 2011. He also claimed the second and the winning goal in that game, which caused a friendly dispute with teammate Kevin Doyle to whom the goal was ultimately awarded.^[14]

In February 2012, Elokobi joined Championship side Nottingham Forest on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season. He made twelve appearances for the club as they managed to pull clear of the relegation battle they had been part of for much of the campaign.^[15]

Since the arrival of Ståle Solbakken as Wolves manager, Elokobi was not used in the starting line-up during a league match. To gain playing time he signed on a 93-day emergency loan for Championship side Bristol City on 26 September.^[16] However, he fractured and dislocated his ankle on his debut against Leeds causing him to miss almost the whole of the remainder of the season.^[17] He made his injury comeback in Wolves' final fixture, a game which confirmed a second consecutive relegation as they entered League One.^[18]

Under new Wolves manager Kenny Jackett, Elokobi made only a handful of appearances as the team won promotion as League One champions. Shortly before the conclusion of the season it was announced that his contract would not be renewed.^[19]

Oldham Athletic

Following his release from Wolves, Elokobi agreed a one-year deal with League One side Oldham Athletic on 8 August 2014.^[20]

Elokobi made his debut the following day, coming on as a substitute against his former club Colchester United.^[21]

International career

In November 2010, Elokobi was called up to the Cameroon national team's training camp,^[22] but wasn't capped. He was then selected for the squad for the 2012 AFCON Qualifier match against Senegal on 26 March 2011 and the friendly match against Gabon three days later. He was an unused substitute against Senegal, and the friendly with Gabon was cancelled only a few days before it was due to be played.^[23][24]

Honours

Wolverhampton Wanderers

• Football League Championship: 2008–09
• Football League One: 2013–14

References

External links

• George Elokobi career statistics at Soccerbase