Tosin Adarabioyo

At 27 years old, Tosin Adarabioyo has this physical status:

Born in Manchester, England, Adarabioyo grew up in Whalley Range and attended Chorlton High School and St Bede's College. His football career started at the age of five when he joined the youth system at Manchester City after he was spotted by the club's head of recruitment, Terry John, at a local five-a-side tournament. He briefly trained with cross-town rivals Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers but elected to remain with City, where he rapidly progressed through the youth ranks during his formative years. When he was 14 years old, he broke into the U18 team and was captaining the side less than two years later, when he also began training with the first team, and wore the armband in City's 5–2 aggregate defeat to Chelsea in the 2014–15 FA Youth Cup final.

His form at youth level saw him called-up to the first team during the 2015–16 campaign and he appeared as an unused substitute for the first time for two UEFA Champions League matches against Juventus and Borussia Mönchengladbach. Adarabioyo's senior debut followed on 21 February 2016 when was named in a young starting XI by Manuel Pellegrini for City's FA Cup match against Chelsea, and he was lauded for a strong performance in marking opposition striker Diego Costa despite his side suffering a 5–1 defeat.

Ahead of the 2016–17 season, and following the appointment of Pep Guardiola as Pellegrini's replacement, Adarabioyo was linked a move away from City amid reports of interest from Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur. He ultimately remained with the club and was praised by Guardiola for his performances during the pre-season, which resulted in him being definitively promoted to the first team. He made his Champions League debut as a substitute for John Stones in a 1–0 play-off round win over Steaua București on 24 August 2016, before becoming the then-youngest player to start a match in the competition for the club later that year, at the age of 19 years and 73 days. He also made his League Cup debut during the campaign in which he featured three times in total, earning a contract extension at the end of the season.

The 2017–18 season saw Adarabioyo continue to feature in both the first team and the reserve team but his game time with the senior side was largely limited by City's depth in defence, which included the presence of captain Vincent Kompany, Stones, Nicolás Otamendi, Eliaquim Mangala and new recruit, Aymeric Laporte. It wasn't until 24 October 2017 when he made his first appearance of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the fourth round of the League Cup, where Manchester City won 4–1 in the penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw. Adarabioyo later made three more appearances, bringing up his overall tally for the campaign to four across all competitions, before joining Championship side West Bromwich Albion on loan ahead of the 2018–19 season.

On 3 August 2018, Adarabioyo joined Championship side West Brom on a season-long loan and made his debut for the club four days later when he started in the right-back position in a 1–1 draw against Nottingham Forest. Although ordinarily a centre-back by trade, he was largely deployed on the right flank after a formation change by club manager Darren Moore and initially struggled in the unfamiliar role in the following weeks. However, after losing and reclaiming his spot in the starting lineup, he developed into one of West Brom's more consistent performers by the turn of the year and was praised by Moore for showing "versatility, adaptability and an understanding of the game". In the new year, Mason Holgate arrived on a short-term deal from Everton which allowed Adarabioyo to return to his preferred position, where he predominantly featured for the remainder of the season as West Brom narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League.

Adarabioyo ultimately made 36 appearances across all competitions for the campaign, which included a substitutes' showing in the second leg of the Championship play-offs against Aston Villa. In that match, he entered the field of play in place of Jacob Murphy as a late, defensive reinforcement after Chris Brunt was dismissed just minutes before. He played the remainder of the encounter and successfully converted his club's third penalty in an eventual 4–3 penalty shoot-out defeat after the tie had ended in a 2–2 aggregate scoreline. Following the conclusion of the campaign, he returned to his parent club before embarking on a subsequent loan spell at fellow Championship side Blackburn Rovers.

Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Adarabioyo joined Blackburn on loan for the remainder of the campaign and made his debut for the club in a 2–0 loss against Fulham the following month. After an injury-enforced absence from the squad, he soon established himself in the first team where he formed a defensive partnership alongside Derrick Williams, Ryan Nyambe and Darragh Lenihan, and he scored his first senior career goal in Blackburn's 2–1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in November. His impressive performances during the first half of the season led to suggestions that he would return to Manchester City in January, with his parent club enduring an injury-crisis at the time, but Guardiola ultimately elected to employ midfielder Fernandinho as defensive cover rather than recall Adaraioyo.

Instead, he remained at Ewood Park and continued to feature as a first-team regular, and by the time the season was suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic in March he had made 27 league appearances for the campaign. With the competition later resuming behind closed doors, he extended his loan spell with the club until the revised end of the season and made his 50th career appearance against Barnsley in June. Immediately prior to that milestone, he had scored his third goal of the season with a curling effort in a 3–1 win over Bristol City, with his effort later being nominated for the club's Goal of the Season award. He ultimately made 34 appearances in the league, scoring three times and registering one assist, as Blackburn ended the campaign in 11th position in the Championship standings.

Following the conclusion of his loan, the club ultimately decided against signing Adarabioyo on a permanent basis, which manager Tony Mowbray explained was due to Blackburn being unable to afford his services: "Ultimately, we couldn't afford him, that's the first part of the question," Mowbray said. "This is why this loan system is really good because not in a million years could we afford Tosin Adarabioyo. We'll wait and see, but I'm not thinking sat here that Tosin will be starting next season with us, unless Man City do us a huge favour, of course, I'm not sure that will be the case." Prior to returning to his parent club, Adarabioyo made two separate statements, thanking the club for the experience and giving him an opportunity.

On 5 October 2020, with a year remaining on his contract, Adarabioyo ended his 18-year association with Manchester City when he joined Premier League rivals Fulham on a permanent deal. Tosin agreed a three-year deal at Fulham, with the club holding the option to extend by an additional 12 months. While the fee was officially undisclosed, local media reported that City would receive up to £2million for the transfer, as well as the benefit of a 20 per cent sell on fee on any future sale. At the time of Adarabioyo's arrival, newly-promoted Fulham had lost their opening four league matches of the season and he was immediately introduced into the starting XI by manager Scott Parker, where he formed a strong partnership alongside Joachim Andersen, who had joined the club on the same day in a short-term deal from Olympique Lyonnais. Over the course of the season, he made what Sky Sports described as a "seamless transition" to the Premier League and delivered a number of impressive performances, including a clean sheet in a 1–0 win over reigning champions Liverpool in March, which saw him come into contention for an England call-up. However, he was unable to help prevent the club from suffering relegation to the Championship, which was confirmed with three matches remaining for the campaign. He scored his first goal for Fulham in a 1–1 draw with Bournemouth on 3 December 2021.

International career

Adarabioyo is a former England youth international and represented his country of birth on 14 occasions across the various age-group levels. He made his first appearance in national team colours in November 2012 at the age of 15 when he was called-up to the England under-16 squad for the first time, making his debut as a 41st-minute substitute against Scotland as England went on to claim a 12th consecutive Victory Shield triumph. In August of the following year, Adarabioyo was called up to the England under-17 for the first time and made his debut in a 3–1 defeat to Portugal later that month. He then established himself as a squad player within the England under-18 team and made his first appearance on the day of his 17th birthday when he featured as a substitute in a 2–0 loss against Italy. In November 2015, Adarabioyo was called up to the England under-19 squad for the first time. After appearing as an unused substitute against the Netherlands, he made his England under-19 debut against Japan on 15 November 2015, starting the whole game, as the under-19 side won 5–1.

Despite featuring frequently at youth level for England, Adarabioyo is yet to make his senior debut for the national team and remains eligible to represent Nigeria through descent. He was previously reported to have turned down an approach by the Nigeria Football Federation to represent the Super Eagles but opened the door to a potential call-up in 2020 when he expressed his desires of playing at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar with either England or Nigeria.

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