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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Stuart Wilson

Dipo Akinyemi: Somerset setup a perfect match for striker's talent, says recruitment chief

The man who discovered Ayr United's new goal machine insists the striker's stunning start is about far more than his goals on the pitch.

Somerset recruitment chief, Keith Glendinning, put the name of little-known Dipo Akinyemi on the table as The Honest Men hunted a new number nine in the summer.

Four months on, the hitman has bagged ten goals in his first nine Championship games and is fast becoming the talk of Scottish football.

But for Glendinning, who put in the hours watching Akinyemi trying to catch a break in England's non-leagues, the striker was a stand-out waiting to happen.

He told the Ayrshire Post: "When someone like Dipo comes along, people say there must be a lot of players like him kicking around down south.

"And whilst it's true that there's a massive pool of players down there, you need a lot of things in your favour to have the kind of success that Dipo is enjoying just now.

"A big factor for me was our ability to get him up here for a full pre-season. It allowed him to come in and transfer that raw, physical ability he has into the player you're seeing just now.

"A lot of boys struggle with the switch from part-time to full-time football, so it's never a given that you'll get quick results.

"But when I first saw Dipo, I was struck by his tendency to score every type of goal. That's exactly what you want in a striker and you're already seeing that with him up here.

"It remains early days as we're only in October but he's someone who is earning justifiable hype - not only because of his goals but the workrate that goes with it.

"He has a desire on and off the pitch...he could easily have stayed down south and taken whatever offer came along but he wanted to come up here and prove himself."

Akinyemi's 19 goals for Welling United in last season's National League South - the sixth tier of the English game - brought him on to the radar of Glendinning.

From there it was on to transfer fixer, Graeme Mathie, and head coach, Lee Bullen, to determine if the powerful forward was their man.

Glendinning added: "It's important to stress how big a part the overall package at Ayr United has been in helping Dipo hit the ground running.

"I think his early conversations with both Graeme and Lee - and vice versa - gave all parties a good feeling that this would be a very positive move.

"From there, the staff at the club have been so welcoming and helped Dipo and his family to settle north of the border. All of those factors combine as part of a bigger picture."

For Glendinning, seeing the instant payback is just reward for his hours on the recruitment hunt. But he insists it's all part of the job.

"In my line of work, all you can do is present different options and do your due dilligence," he says.

"Players like Dipo are a good example because you take one look at their CV and plenty might be put off because of the number of clubs he'd been at by the age of 24.

"That's where you need to dig a bit deeper, make the relevant calls and you hopefully find the ones who've just been needing the right club and the right circumstances to kick on.

"Hopefully that's the case with Dipo and the early signs are certainly good that he has a bright future ahead."

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