Favour returned as Stoke City recruit admits 'some people have to wait 20 years'
A week is a long time in football - and new Stoke City signing Favour Fawunmi is proof of that. Fawunmi had been on the radar of Stoke’s academy scouts in the summer but ended up staying at West Ham until the end of January, when they were able to pounce and get him up to Clayton Wood for a trial game in front of first-team boss Mark Robins and sporting director Jon Walters.
The 18-year-old winger was offered a deal pretty much on the spot, signed on Friday and made his first-team debut from the bench on Saturday, in an FA Cup fourth round tie against Cardiff eventually lost on penalties. Fawunmi was introduced as a 74th-minute substitute in place of Andre Vidigal to cap off a remarkable few days.
The Potters may have lost the shoot-out, but Fawunmi hopes his first taste of life in the Potteries is just the start. “I can’t put it into words. It’s what you dream of,” he told the club’s website. “Some people have to wait 20 years, luckily for me it was only 18 and I’m grateful to the manager for the opportunity.
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“It’s an unbelievable club, a family club and they let me understand there’s opportunities here for me and I’m just grateful to Dave Hibbert and Liam Lawrence (youth coaches) for bringing me in. After the trial game the fans were already talking to me and once you have that support it was an easy decision to come here.
“It was unbelievable. I didn’t know the first-team manager was at the trial game until after, then straight after the game I was sat down in a room with maybe four or five staff and they just wanted me to come here and show everyone how good I can be. When it’s like that you don’t have much choice but to come here and sign for Stoke.”
Boss Robins wasn’t fazed by the prospect of throwing Fawunmi straight into the action. And the youngster admits it was a dream for him to be given his senior debut so quickly.
“It was one of those ones you dream of and you’re just thinking about it and to be honest, on Friday night I couldn’t sleep and I was just thinking about the possibility of me coming on the pitch and luckily for me it was a dream come true,” he added.
“The fans are unbelievable, so loud, I couldn’t hear myself think, especially during the penalty shoot-out. We didn’t get the right result, but it’s definitely something to look forward to every time I come here.”
Fawunmi says it takes a bit of time to adjust to the pace of men’s football, but he’s hoping that more chances will be around the corner. “It’s just about how different the tempo is of the senior game and the youth game,” he explained. “And it’s about making decisions early. I’m just thankful to all of my team-mates for being easy with me and allowing me to be myself all of the time.
“I’m going to keep pushing on and make as many appearances across the under-21s and first team as I possibly can and hopefully I’ll get to play here again in front of the fans. But firstly I have to keep performing with the under-21s and impressing all of the time.”
