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Folami Linked With Return to Australia
Wednesday, 14th Oct 2020 10:31

Town’s Australian U23 international striker Ben Folami has been linked with a move to the Melbourne Victory back in his home country.

According to The World Game, the 21-year-old could make a switch to the A-League as he looks to play regular football ahead of next summer’s Olympic Games.

Folami was a member of the Olyroos squad - the U23s - which qualified for the Games which were due to be held in Tokyo this summer but have been postponed until 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A move to the Victory would allow coach Graham Arnold to watch him in action on a regular basis.

Whether the move would be permanent or a loan is not known, according to the report, but a temporary switch seems more likely.

Town boss Paul Lambert said last week that Folami is among the young players he would like to get out for a spell to gain first-team experience: “Ben hopefully will go out on loan.”

However, a switch to a UK-based club where the Blues can keep a closer eye on their player's progress would be preferable than a move down under, particularly with the A-League currently working towards a December 27th start for its new season.

Folami, who scored his first senior goal in last week’s 2-0 EFL Trophy victory over Gillingham, is contracted to Town until next summer with the deal likely to include the usual one-year option.

The Sydney-born frontman has made four first-team starts and three sub appearances for the Blues. He spent a short spell on loan at Stevenage at the end of last season playing two games from the bench before the campaign was curtailed.

Despite the UK international transfer window having closed, A-League sides can still sign players from abroad with former Luton and Wigan man Callum McManaman having joined the Victory yesterday.

Meanwhile, former Blues midfielder Kevin Bru, 31, has joined l'US Créteil-Lusitanos Football, who play in the Championnat National, the third tier of French football.

The Mauritius international has had spells with Apollon Limassol and Dinamo Bucarest since being released by Town in the summer of 2018.


Photo: Matchday Images



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Bergholt_Blue added 10:50 - Oct 14
Loan would be good for him but please town don't sell him
4

ParisBlue added 10:54 - Oct 14
Would be a good move for him, but would have liked to see him having been given more of a chance.
1

dirtydingusmagee added 10:55 - Oct 14
good prospect be a pity to lose him , was looking forward to seeing him moving on with us .
2

ThatMuhrenCross added 11:13 - Oct 14
Loan would be fine in my opinion, but far too soon in his career to be giving up on a career in Europe if it's to be a permanent.
3

Bluefox added 11:31 - Oct 14
Suspect it may be on a permanent basis. I wold be sorry to see him go, but he is not one of the names that Lambert mentions when he talks about promising youngsters, which suggest he may not really rate him.
I reckon he is also a victim of the system we are now playing — is he strong and mobile enough to play as a lone striker? Lambert has played him out wide in the cup game this season, which is probably not his position.
0

Wallingford_Boy added 11:39 - Oct 14
I'd say a loan deal is unlikely on the othe side of the world! Perm deal makes sense all round as way down the pecking order here, even with all the injuries.
0

ArnieM added 11:56 - Oct 14
Can't say I'd blame him going home tbh , he's not managed to break through here has he. Good luck to him whatever he decides to do.
3

BlueandTruesince82 added 12:01 - Oct 14
Would much rather he went on loan somewhere
0

PortmanTerrorist added 12:48 - Oct 14
Fallen behind a little now so really does need games, though will be interesting to see how much PL values him and if he is willing to let him go....or fight to keep him.

Good luck to Mr Bru. Good servant who probably could not have raised us to promotion level, but is exactly the sort of consistent 7/10 that would have stopped us getting relegated.
3

rugbytomc added 12:58 - Oct 14
I know the name well but can't say I've ever seen that much of young Folami. Shame his loan with Stevenage got cut short by Covid. He needs a loan now I think to get some game time and show what he can do - I hope he gets one along with Dobra and maybe a couple of others. Woolfenden and Downes loans really helped them after all.
0

Northstandveteran added 14:51 - Oct 14
First team football in Australia's sunny summer or reserve football in a soggy Suffolk winter?

I should imagine his shorts, sandals and surfboard are being packed right now!
3

Nobbysnuts added 15:11 - Oct 14
No loss. Get him off the wage bill.🤥
-2

Linkboy13 added 15:16 - Oct 14
Seems to have been around for ages. Obviously the coaching staff don't rate him highly enough and hasn't really pushed on. You have to earn the right to play for the first team and not just get picked because the fans like you, no sympathy in football im afraid.
0

FenboyBlue added 15:55 - Oct 14
Strewth!
0

budgieplucker added 19:25 - Oct 14
I am really split down the middle about this lad and have watched him many times in the U23's, my instinct is that he will score goals at all levels, he is a bit of a fox in the box and can be a scruffy untidy player often getting an outstretched leg or toe poke of a goal. So one side of me says he could turn into a Michael Chopra, without the gambling baggage and the Mafia tailing him. However, the other side of me asks does he work hard enough for the team, he is way behind Aaron Drinan at the moment who works his socks off and then what about the very unlucky Ben Morris when he returns who some would rate the more highly of the two Bens..

It's a great problem to have that our academy is producing such potential but unless they can force themselves into the first team squad at the age of 21 then they have to move on in form of a loan or permanently to make room for the next batch of players needing opportunities to step up, Undoubtedly releasing some Of them permanently will come back to bite us but that is only an endorsement of our academy and the system of providing a conveyor belt of players, there are some elements of luck as to whether a player makes it or not. Jack Marriott is an example and whatever you think of MM his reasons for releasing Jack has some logic, after a great spell with Peterborough and Derby he seems to have gone off the boil last season 3 goals in 37 appearances.
1

strikalite added 20:48 - Oct 14
If we do sell him then make sure we have a buy back clause in place, for a set fee..

0

harlingblue added 02:45 - Oct 15
Never been given the real chance in the 1st team. His style of link up play in the U23 team over the years, is very much in the approach now being adopted by THIS YEARS 1st team. Drinan (injured) and now Hawkins are playing a similar roll. It would be sad to lose him, when so many of our Academy lads are now staking their claim, and grabbing it.
0


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