If you want to know what it means to start from scratch, just ask Toluwalase Emmanuel Arokodare, known much more simply as Tolu. He is a striker born in 2000 in Lagos, the capital of Nigeria, another from the crop of attacking players of the Super Eagles led by Lookman and Osimhen. But if we are talking about Arokodare in detail, it’s because his name is on Igli Tare’s shortlist for the striker role at Milan, alongside Santiago Gimenez.
Two meters tall (199 centimeters, to be precise) and weighing 100 kilograms, Arokodare perfectly fits the definition of a penalty-box man “like Giroud”, as the Rossoneri sporting director described it some time ago. We're talking about a so-called modern center-forward, capable of battling physically, working with and for the team, and above all, putting the ball in the net with decent consistency. In fact, in the past season, he won the top scorer title of the Belgian league wearing the Genk shirt—17 of his total 23 goals—also adding 7 assists.
Arokodare has been playing for Genk for two years: in the first season, 2023/24, he put together 15 goals and 3 assists—a respectable haul considering the limited playing time he logically had. The season just ended was his breakout year, after a journey that borders on the incredible: from Nigeria, Tolu entered Europe through the back door, that is, via Latvia—22 goals in 32 matches in 2019 with Valmiera. Then came Cologne (Germany), with a season of around ten total goals, a tally he repeated over the next two years in France with Amiens. His explosion in Belgium certainly foreshadows something important for him in the near future.
In his first year at Genk, Arokodare faced an Italian team: Fiorentina, opponents in the group stage—the last group stage before the shift to the league phase in 2024/25—of the Conference League. He came on as a substitute in the first leg (2–2) and started in the return leg in Florence (2–1 for the Viola, who later lost the final in Athens to Olympiacos). Now, with 4 appearances and 1 goal in a recent friendly against Russia with the Nigerian national team just a few weeks ago, he is in Milan’s thoughts. But the Rossoneri will have to compete with clubs like Eintracht Frankfurt and Leipzig, who would like to bring him back to Germany. The price tag, between €20 and €25 million, is not prohibitive…
Source: Calciomercato.com
