Akwasi Asante

Akwasi Asante
Personal information
Full name Akwasi Asante[1]
Date of birth (1992-09-06) 6 September 1992
Place of birth Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Solihull Moors
Youth career
1999-2003 Neerlandia/SLTO
2003-2005 Blauw-Wit Amsterdam
2005 HFC Haarlem
2006–2008 Wednesbury Sports Union
2008–2011 Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
2011–2014 Birmingham City 0 (0)
2012 → Northampton Town (loan) 4 (1)
2013 → Shrewsbury Town (loan) 7 (1)
2013 → Shrewsbury Town (loan) 1 (0)
2014–2015 Kidderminster Harriers 10 (0)
2015– Solihull Moors 0 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:14, 25 April 2015 (UTC).

† Appearances (goals)

Akwasi Asante (born 6 September 1992) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a striker for Solihull Moors.

Asante began his senior career in England with Birmingham City. He made his first-team debut in the Europa League play-off round second leg against C.D. Nacional in August 2011, and made his debut in the Football League while on loan at Northampton Town in January 2012. He had spells on loan at Shrewsbury Town in both 2012–13 and 2013–14, but injury disrupted his progress, and he left Birmingham when his contract expired. Without a club while recovering from injury, he joined Kidderminster Harriers in December 2014.

Club career

Early life and career

Asante was born in Amsterdam to Ghanaian parents.[2] He played at amateurside Neerlandia which merged to Blauw-Wit Amsterdam.[3] As a youngster he had interested Ajax, but he chose to join HFC Haarlem's youth academy, where he spent three years before the family moved to the UK when he was 13. He played for Wednesbury Sports Union in the Walsall Junior Youth League before joining Birmingham City F.C.'s Academy, where he began a two-year scholarship in July 2009.[2][4][5]

In the 2010–11 season, Birmingham chose not to enter a reserve team in a competitive league, but Asante was a regular member of the under-18 Academy team and played in the Birmingham Senior Cup. In October 2010 he scored five goals as the under-18s beat Tottenham Hotspur's under-18s 6–0.[4] This performance contributed to his first competitive involvement with the first team a few days later, when he was named among the substitutes for the Football League Cup fourth-round tie against Brentford.[4] Asante signed his first professional contract, of two-and-a-half years, in January 2011.[6] Injury kept him out for four months,[7] but he was an unused substitute for Birmingham's last two Premier League games of the season, against Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.[8]

Senior football

He was part of the Birmingham squad for their 2011 pre-season visit to Ireland, and came close to scoring in the second half of the friendly against Cork City, when he appeared to be brought down after touching the ball past the goalkeeper, but no penalty was awarded.[9] In the absence through injury of strikers Cameron Jerome, Marlon King and Nikola Žigić,[10] Asante was named in the 20-man squad for Birmingham's Europa League match against Nacional in Madeira in August. An unused substitute in the first leg,[11] he made his first-team debut in the second leg on 25 August, replacing Chris Burke in the 88th minute as Birmingham won 3–0 to qualify for the group stage.[12]

On 1 January 2012, Asante moved to Northampton Town of Football League Two on a one-month loan deal.[13] He went straight into the starting eleven for their match the following day, away to Shrewsbury Town, and after 22 minutes he collected a cross from Lewis Young and rounded the goalkeeper to set up the opening goal for Saido Berahino. The match finished as a 1–1 draw.[14] In his second game for the club, he "took advantage of a slip by his marker to carry the ball inside another challenge and smack a right-footed shot inside Barry Roche's near post", his first league goal which proved to be the winner as Northampton beat Morecambe 2–1.[15] He returned to Birmingham at the end of the month having scored once from three appearances.[16]

Asante was part of the Birmingham squad that went on a tour to Austria ahead of the 2012–13 season.[17] He was preferred to Žigić for the visit of Bolton Wanderers in September because manager Lee Clark wanted a striker with pace available among the substitutes if needed.[18] He tore a hamstring playing for the development squad in October. The injury took considerably longer than expected to heal,[19] and Asante did not return to development squad duty until March 2013.[20] Ahead of the transfer deadline, Asante joined Shrewsbury Town on loan until the end of the League One season,[21] and made his debut as a late substitute in a 2–2 draw away to Carlisle United. In seven games for Shrewsbury he scored once, the third goal in a 3–2 defeat of Portsmouth on the last day of the season.[22]

Asante signed a new one-year contract with Birmingham in June 2013, with an option for the club to extend it for a second year.[23] He rejoined Shrewsbury on loan, initially for a month, ahead of the 2013–14 season.[24] A hamstring injury delayed his second debut for the club until the fourth match of the season, a 2–0 win at home to Swindon Town.[25] Birmingham recalled Asante on 19 August as cover, with two strikers injured and another free to leave the club.[26] However, injury prevented his involvement in Birmingham's next match and disrupted his season.[27] He returned to action in April 2014 with four goals in a development squad match against Huddersfield Town, leading manager Lee Clark to suggest he might still have a future at the club,[28] but it was later confirmed that he would leave when his contract expired at the end of the season.

Kidderminster Harriers

Asante was without a club for some months while recovering from injury. On 16 December 2014, he signed for Conference Premier club Kidderminster Harriers until the end of the season.[29] He made his debut as a second-half substitute as Kidderminster beat Lincoln City with a goal in stoppage time.[30]

Career statistics

As of match played 6 April 2015
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Birmingham City 2011–12[31][32] Championship 0000001[lower-alpha 1]010
2012–13[22] Championship 000000—00
Birmingham City total 0000001010
Northampton Town (loan) 2011–12[31] League Two 41———41
Shrewsbury Town (loan) 2012–13[22] League One 71———71
2013–14[33] League One 10—00—10
Shrewsbury Town total 81———81
Kidderminster Harriers 2014–15[8] Conference Premier 100——1[lower-alpha 2]0110
Career total 222000020242
  1. ↑ Appearance in UEFA Europa League
  2. ↑ Appearance in FA Trophy

References

  1. ↑ "Professional Retain List & Free Transfers 2012/13" (PDF). The Football League. 18 May 2013. p. 4. Retrieved 2 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 Tattum, Colin (22 January 2011). "Akwasi Asante keen to make mark at Birmingham City after signing on as a professional". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  3. ↑ FEATURE: Akwasi Asante - the Big Interview, Part Two, harriers.co.uk, 16 February 2015
  4. 1 2 3 Tattum, Colin (25 October 2010). "Another Academy young gun set to make debut". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "Academy sign up future stars". Birmingham City F.C. 14 July 2009. Archived from the original on 19 August 2009.
  6. ↑ "Asante and Kerr sign pro deals". Birmingham City F.C. 19 January 2011. Archived from the original on 22 January 2011.
  7. ↑ "Blues U18s 2 Crystal Palace U18s 1". Birmingham City F.C. 3 May 2011. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  8. 1 2 "Akwasi Asante". Soccerway. Global Sports Media. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
  9. ↑ Tattum, Colin (18 July 2011). "Cork City 0 Birmingham City 1 – First impressions good from Adam Rooney". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "CD Nacional v Birmingham preview". Sky Sports. 18 August 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "UEFA Europa League 2012: Nacional–Birmingham". UEFA. 18 August 2011. Archived from the original on 15 May 2014. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
  12. ↑ "UEFA Europa League 2012: Birmingham–Nacional". UEFA. 25 August 2011. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2011.
  13. ↑ "Northampton Town sign Birmingham City's Akwasi Asante". BBC Sport. 30 December 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "Northampton Town: Boothroyd says well-earned point at Shrewsbury shows Cobblers are heading in right direction". Northampton Chronicle. 3 January 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Beaming Boothroyd delighted to bring up first win as boss". Northampton Chronicle. 9 January 2012. Retrieved 30 January 2012.
  16. ↑ "Forwards come back". Birmingham City F.C. 30 January 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2012.
  17. ↑ Tattum, Colin (15 July 2012). "Birmingham City boss Lee Clark is looking for more signings as the club arrive in Austria for their pre-season tour". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  18. ↑ Tattum, Colin (20 September 2012). "Lee Clark's ruthless streak benefits Birmingham City". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  19. ↑ Tattum, Colin (29 November 2012). "Injury woe for Akwasi Asante". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 27 December 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  20. ↑ Tattum, Colin (19 March 2013). "Akwasi Asante scores on Blues return". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  21. ↑ "Blues striker in on loan". Shrewsbury Town F.C. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
  22. 1 2 3 "Games played by Akwasi Asante in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  23. ↑ "Birmingham City: Akwasi Asante signs new one-year deal". BBC Sport. 3 June 2013. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2013.
  24. ↑ "Akwasi returns". Shrewsbury Town F.C. 13 July 2013. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "Shrewsbury v Swindon preview". Sky Sports. 17 August 2013. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  26. ↑ "Championship: Akwasi Asante recalled by Birmingham City from Shrewsbury". Sky Sports. 19 August 2013. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  27. ↑ Tattum, Colin (26 October 2013). "Zigic set to lead line in the Nik of time". Birmingham Mail. Archived from the original on 12 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  28. ↑ Tattum, Colin (6 April 2014). "Lee Clark says Akwasi Asante could still have a future at Blues". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  29. ↑ "New signings: Jamie Spencer and Akwasi Asante join Harriers". Kidderminster Harriers F.C. 16 December 2014. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  30. ↑ "Obeng pounces late to stun ten men Imps". Kidderminster Shuttle. 20 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
  31. 1 2 "Games played by Akwasi Asante in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  32. ↑ "2011/12 UEFA Europa League: Birmingham City FC: Squad: Qualifying phase". UEFA. 17 May 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  33. ↑ "Games played by Akwasi Asante in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 11 May 2014.

External links


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