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Sam Allardyce places solid defense at the heart of his game plan, which means the form of center-back Semi Ajayi must be a huge asset to West Brom’s new boss.
But his path to the top has been far from easy, taking him from Dartford and Arsenal to tryouts at Ajax.
“My journey has been a bit crazy,” the 27-year-old told BBC Sport.
“It makes it even sweeter now that I’m finally in the biggest league.”
Ajayi played 44 times for the Baggies last season after joining from Rotherham in the summer of 2019, helping the club finish second in the Championship and earn promotion to the top flight.
He has made 14 other appearances so far this season, scoring his first Premier League goal at Anfield after seeing his goal deflected. away at Manchester City A fortnight ago credited as an own goal by Ruben Dias – his interventions gave the Baggies two valuable points.
It means the Nigeria international has played in England’s top five divisions during his career, which also includes spells at Cardiff, AFC Wimbledon and Crewe.
Learning from Wenger and Mertesacker
Ajayi joined Charlton as a youth in 2012 and spent a year on loan at Dartford of the National League, before signing with Arsenal in 2013 under then-manager Arsene Wenger.
“He was someone I had only seen on television up to that point,” Ajayi said of the Frenchman. “Just being able to choose his brain, learn from him, listen to him, study the information he was giving me in training was incredible. It helped me improve my game.
“Training with the players is probably what attracted me even more. It showed me where to be to play at the highest level. The quality you face every day in training is second to none.
“I’d probably say that the person who had the most influence on me was Per Mertesacker. He took a long time to teach me about the art of defending. He would just give me advice here and there.”
Ajax advances
He left Arsenal in 2015 after having played only for the under-23s, despite being named to the first team bench on several occasions.
Ajayi says he had been “pushed down the pecking order” among defenders and Wenger told him he couldn’t guarantee first-team soccer.
“He told me that if I had the option of another team to take me and give it to me, he would not get in my way,” Ajayi said.
That led him to train at other clubs, including Dutch Ajax.
“You can see why they produce so many players when you walk into their facilities and see how they do things,” he added. “They were interested. They wanted a young and athletic center-back to prepare for the first team and I fit their criteria, so they invited me to a test.
“It went really well but I was looking for first team football and the route they wanted me to take would have been to initially play for team B and then maybe work my way into the first team.
“I just thought that if I left home and then moved there, it would only be for the first team.”
