Albert Adomah (Player 2008-2010)
It’s been almost seven years since Albert Adomah put on the famous Ghanaian shirt for the first time. The 30-year-old, currently at Aston Villa, came on as a substitute in a 1-0 defeat to Brazil at Craven Cottage in September 2011.
Since then, Adomah has gone on to make 16 appearances for his country, finding the back of the net on two occasions. His most recent run out for Ghana came last month, coming off the bench for Edwin Gyasi in a 2-2 friendly draw with Iceland.
However, when it came to the world’s big stage, it proved only to be a short stint for Adomah. The former Bees winger only has one World Cup appearance to his name after coming off the bench for Christian Atsu in Ghana’s opening group game defeat to USA during the 2014 tournament. The Black Stars finished bottom of the standings after a draw with Germany and a defeat to Portugal respectively sent them home. Adomah was an unused substitute in both their remaining group games.
Ghana, who have only qualified for three World Cups in their history, have had to watch the tournament from home this year after failing to qualify for Russia. However, after scoring 15 goals and creating six assists in 33 appearances for Villa this season, had Ghana exceeded the qualifying rounds, Adomah could well have added to his only World Cup cap this year.
However, his focus now turns to next season where he will be aiming to help Villa clinch promotion back to the top flight after a play-off final defeat last campaign. Let’s not forget, though, that it was Barnet who kick-started Adomah’s rise in England’s top divisions.
After two years at Harrow Borough where the 30-year-old embarked on his senior career, he made the short move to Barnet in January 2008 and it wasn’t long before he made a name for himself. The Bees travelled to Hereford United in Adomah’s first taste of Football League action where the debutant also scored his first goal in black and amber. The former Bee added four more goals to his tally that season as Barnet finished the campaign in 12th.
The following season saw the Ghanaian claim Barnet’s Young Player of the Year award by the Supporters association after netting 10 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions. The credentials shown that season would undoubtedly attract attention from higher clubs and that’s exactly what happened. Teams such as Blackpool, Watford and Norwich came knocking on the door to clinch his signature. However, he remained at Underhill.
Adomah, who was also sponsored by none other than John Motson during his time here, went on to make over 100 appearances in all competitions for the Bees, scoring 20 goals over two-and-a-half seasons.
The 2009-10 season proved to be Adomah’s last for Barnet and in England’s bottom tier. Championship side Bristol City snapped him up in July 2010 and the winger hasn’t looked back since. Nine seasons have gone by since his Bees departure, spending eight of them in the Championship and one in the Premier League.
Adomah will have promotion to the Premier League firmly in his sight next season but Barnet will always go down as the side who helped the winger break onto the scene.
Click here to read the first edition of World Cup Bees – Jimmy Greaves.
Click here to read the second edition of World Cup Bees – Edgar Davids.
