Tolu Arokodare has received significant praise from Jan Wuytens, who previously worked with the Nigerian striker at KRC Genk and has provided insight into the qualities that helped the forward develop during his time in Belgium.
Arokodare is currently making an impression at Ajax, where he has emerged as an important option in attack.
Wuytens, who previously worked at Genk, believes the striker possesses a distinctive playing profile and recalled the adjustment he had to make when he first arrived at the Belgian club.
Reflecting on Arokodare’s early days at Genk, Wuytens explained that the striker initially found it difficult to adapt to the team’s pressing demands and the amount of running required without the ball.
“Tolu has a very special profile, he is a unique boy. When he arrived, he mainly had to get used to our style of play. We played a kind of Ajax football, with high pressure," the former Racing Genk assistant manage said, as quoted by Ajax1.
“He really struggled with that at the beginning: constantly making those sprint meters while pressing.
“But in his second season, Tolu really came into his own at Genk, also because we started using him much more to his strengths
Wuytens then described how Genk changed its approach to make greater use of Arokodare’s aerial ability, particularly by supplying him with more crosses into the penalty area.
“We started training more on crosses, throwing balls into the box. Tolu is simply unstoppable there. He is a very good header, and also quite fast, so you have to bring out his strengths,” he said.
The former Genk coach also noted that Arokodare gradually became better equipped to deal with the pace and transition moments involved in Belgian football.
“He himself also adapted increasingly well, especially to the tempo of the game, as there are a lot of transition moments in Belgian football,” he added.
Wuytens went on to describe Arokodare as a player with a personality capable of making an impression within a team, while stressing that coaches need to find the right approach to maintain his consistency.
“He is a special boy. He has a kind of magic, that allows him to win everyone over at certain clubs,” he said.
“As a coach, you really have to strike the right chord with him, the perfect chord, and you have to keep striking it to keep him consistent. If you do that, you get a killer on the pitch.”
According to Wuytens, the challenge is to place Arokodare within a tactical structure without taking away the qualities that make him effective.
“That is the game you have to play with him: you want to put him into a certain structure, in which he can still be himself. That is interesting,” he explained.
Wuytens also dismissed any suggestion that Arokodare caused disciplinary problems during their time together at Genk.
“With us, there have never been any problems with him being late or things like that,” he emphasized.
He then recalled how the Nigerian gradually became more productive as Genk found better ways to utilise his strengths.
“And eventually, he really started to push through. He started scoring more and more, and we started using him better and better.
“He is so strong at holding onto the ball, allowing the rest to join in. If you feed him with crosses, and have players making runs around him, he is a very interesting player,” Wuytens concluded.
Wale Adejumo
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