Sean Makin
Following on from our recent article on Henri Lansbury, this is the next in a series of articles written by fans of clubs who had Arsenal players on loan last season. We’ve asked them to give us an honest appraisal of the player’s performance, their relationship with the fans and, for those of us who may not have seen the player before, a well known player who they are similar in style to. I wonder what Benik Afobe will think when he finds out who this Huddersfield Town fan has compared him to following his stint with the League One side?
To be honest, I’d never heard of Benik Afobe until Huddersfield Town signed the striker on loan for a month in November 2010. Over the years our club have had a few players on loan from Premier League clubs and it’s gone one of two ways – they have either hit the ground running or they have failed miserably. As soon as I heard Town were signing Afobe I did a bit of background research and what I found impressed me. He’d been scoring goals for fun in the Arsenal academy and I also noticed the youngster had won the U-18 player of the year the previous season.
When Afobe came on as a substitute against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough for the last 15-20 minutes I knew then it was a right decision to bring him in. Bags of pace and the ability to hold off his man gave the Wednesday defence a headache and he was unlucky not to score on his debut. He did score his first goal against Rotherham United in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy with a man-of-the-match performance, scoring two goals and grabbing an assist.
It is hard to believe that this lad is only 18 years of age. He plays with a maturity beyond his years and whilst he wasn’t prolific in his time with us (five goals in 28 games), his high work rate and willingness to set up his fellow team-mates (seven assists) shows that there is more to his game; proven in a 3-0 win over Notts County as Afobe set up all three goals in a man-of-the-match showing.
Another performance that should be noted was in a 3-2 win over League One champions, Brighton in their last ever game at the Withdean Stadium. A flash of brilliance by Afobe to turn his man and fire into the bottom corner provided the first and his second was a real poacher’s goal as he capitalised on some poor defending. He also had a hand in the third setting up Danny Ward to record a convincing win.
His only real fault is that his finishing leaves a little to be desired but in games towards the end of the season he was being asked to lead the line on his own and his all-round game makes up for his lack of goals.
I will probably get ridiculed for this but if there’s any player I would compare Afobe to it would be Emile Heskey when he was a youngster. Strong, bags of pace, good in the area, holds up the ball well and brings others into play. His work-rate is second to none and he gives 100% per cent every game.
Afobe was an important part of Huddersfield Town’s unbeaten record towards end of the season with a string of impressive performances (he got four man-of-the-match awards in a row) which won over the hearts of many Town fans and he has become a real fans’ favourite at the Galpharm Stadium.
Thanks to Sean from the excellent unofficial Huddersfield Town fans site Terrier Bytes for writing this piece for us.
