Meet Tope Obadeyi

Tope Obadeyi, 24, was widely regarded as one of English football’s major young talents as recently as only two years ago when he was on the books of then Premier League Bolton Wanderers.

An England age-group contemporary of current Premier League regulars Daniel Sturridge – a former primary schoolboy team-mate – Scott Sinclair and Andy Carroll, Tope joined Wanderers after a youth career at Coventry City.

He made his senior debut for Bolton as a substitute in their 1-0 home Premier League defeat by Wigan at Christmas 2008.

In the subsequent two seasons, he had loans spells at Swindon, Rochdale and Shrewsbury before signing an extension to his Bolton deal that took him through to the summer of 2012.

He linked up with John Sheridan at Chesterfield on another loan at the start of the 2011-12 season, and ended the season back at Rochdale for a month.

In between his loans, he was a regular for Bolton’s Premier League reserve side, and was described as a “danger man” by Manchester United before living up to the billing by taking United full-back Rafael apart during a Manchester Senior Cup tie.

Following Bolton’s relegation from the Premier League, Tope was released after just three first-team games and subsequently joined Portuguese top-flight side Rio Ave at the start of June 2012.

He returned to England with Bury earlier this year, looking to pick up the threads of a domestic career that also includes six goals in six games for England Under-19s and 20s.

That carried on a prolific junior career which started when he scored 81 goals his first schoolboy football season, averaging at least a hat-trick on every outing.