Adeyemi: Thomas Oluseun (Tom)

2015-2016 (Leeds Player Details) (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Attleborough, Norfolk: 24-10-1991

Debut: v Burnley (h): 08-08-2015

6' 1' 13st 5lb (2015)

A local boy he joined the Norwich City Academy at the age of eight and progressed through the club's junior and youth ranks. He scored in the club's 3-1 friendly victory over Celtic on 23rd March 2007, and then made sixteen appearances for the Norwich Under-Eighteens in the 2007-08 season, before the Academy as a full-time scholar in the summer of 2008. He signed his first professional contract with Norwich, for two and a half years, on 13th November 2008, preferring a career as a professional footballer as opposed to a place at Cambridge University. He was called to the bench, but remained unused, on 21st March 2009 in a 1-1 draw at Birmingham City and then made his League debut with the Canaries in the devastating 1-7 defeat at Carrow Road on 8th August 2009, as a fifty -ninth minute substitute for Matthew Gill, when they were already 0-5 down, in the first game of the season. He went on to make two starts and nine games from the bench and sat unused on the bench in sixteen other games as he was awarded the League One Apprentice of the Year award for 2009-10, as Norwich gained promotion back to the Championship as Champions of League One. On 14th July 2010, he joined League Two team Bradford City on a six months' loan which was later extended to the full season. He made his Bantam's debut on the season's opening day of 7th August 2010 in a 1-3 defeat at Shrewsbury Town, playing a full game and scoring the first goal of the game in the twenty-fourth minute. He went on to score five League goals in thirty starts and four games from the bench, he also started one F.A. Cup, one League Cup and one Johnstone's Paint Trophy game without scoring. On 31st August 2011 he was loaned to League One team, Oldham Athletic, for the season, making his debut on the 3rd September 2011in a 1-1 home draw with Huddersfield Town, in which he played a full game. He scored his first goal for the Latics on 10th October 2011, when he got his side's second goal in the fifty-sixth minute in a 2-1 home win over Milton Keynes Dons. On 11 April 2012, his loan period ended and he returned to Carrow Road after scoring twice in the League from thirty-three starts and three games from the bench, together with no goals from three starts and one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup and scoring once in five starts in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. He was loaned to League One side, Brentford, on 29th August 2012, initially for six months, but he impressed manager Uwe Rosler due to his work in central midfield, that his time was extended to the whole of the 2012-13 season. He did not immediately make his debut for the Bees, but after sitting on the bench unused on 1st September 2012 at Walsall, he was given his debut as a seventieth minute substitute for Adam Forshaw a week later, on 8th September 2012, in a 1-0 home win over Colchester United. He was a late substitute in next fixture before making his starting debut on 18th September 2012 in a 2-2 draw at Bournemouth in which he played in all but the final five minutes. His first goal for the Bees did not arrive until he got the opening goal, one minute before half-time, in a 2-0 home win over Stevenage on 12th February 2013. He scored twice in twenty-one starts and nine games from the bench in the League, one goal in four starts and one game as a substitute in the F.A. Cup and he started three games in the League One play-offs and one in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy without scoring while at Griffin Park, as the club narrowly failed to gain promotion, being eliminated by Yeovil Town in the play-off final. After five years at Carrow Road he was given a free transfer and signed for Championship side, Birmingham City, on 24th June 2013 on a two year contract. He did not score for the Canaries but started two games and came off the bench nine times in the League and started twice in the League Cup and four times in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy. He made his debut for his new club on 3rd August 2013 when he played a full game in a 0-1 defeat by Watford at St Andrew's. He quickly established himself as a midfield regular. His first goal came on 25th September 2013 in the Third Round of the League Cup, when he scored the third goal, in the eighty- first minute of a 3-1 home win over Stoke City and then on 1st October 2013, he got his first League goal when he got the Blues' third goal in the sixty-eighth minute in a 4-0 home win over Millwall. Birmingham had gone throgh November and December undefeated, but Adeyemi picked up a back injury which saw him out of action for a month and restricted his movement after he returned. This and the return of three vital loan players to their parent clubs saw Birmingham start to plummet and only avoided relegation by goal difference on the final day. He was chosen as the club's Young Player of the season and, on 25th July 2014, Manager Lee Clark apponted him as the club's vice-captain for the 2013-14 season. After interest from Cardiff City, Adeyemi submitted a transfer request which, like the bid from Cardiff, was rejected by Birmingham. However, on 7th August 2014, Adeyemi was sold to Cardiff for a fee, believed to be more £1million, on a three year contract. He was to be a direct replacement for Jordan Mutch, who was sold to Queens Park Rangers for £6million. While at Birmingham City Adeyemi scored one goal in the League in thirty-two starts and three games as a substitute and got two in four starts in the League Cup but failed to score in one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup. He made his Cardiff debut as a fifty-fifth minute substitute for Mats Moller Daehli in the opening game of the season on 8th August 2014 in a 1-1 draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. His starting debut came eight days later in a 3-1 home win over Huddersfield Town, when he played the full game. He scored his first goal when he opened the scoring with a header in the twelfth minute of a 1-1 draw with Charlton Athletic at the Valley on 26th December 2014. While he was a regular in the first team squad he could not always be guaranteed a place in the starting eleven as the season wore on. He scored the one goal in eleven starts and nine more from the bench in the League, but was also unused on the bench in eighteen other games. He also started one and came off the bench in one game in the F.A. Cup and started one in the League Cup, but did not score in any. It came as a surprise to many when he was allowed to join Leeds United on loan on 14th July 2014 for a season-long loan. Newly appointed Leeds Manager, Uwe Rosler, was well aware of Adeyemi's talents from his association with him at Brentford in the 2012-13 season when on loan from Norwich City, and had made a tentative approach for him in the early stages of the summer transfer window. He was no doubt surprised when Cardiff allowed him to leave on generous terms on a season-long loan, which included the option to buy him at the end of the loan. Having cost Cardiff £1 million and contracted to them for two further years the first refusal on a fixed-term option to Leeds at the end of the loan is good for all three parties, as Cardiff showed a reluctence to start him, particularly in the second half of the 2014-15 season, and it depends on Adeyemi's performances in the period of the loan. He made his Leeds debut on 21st July 2015 as a fifty-sixth minute substitute for Tommaso Bianchi, before starting the next friendly, four days later, and scoring after twenty-five minutes in a 1-2 defeat by TSG 1899 Hoffenheim in Lillestrom, Norway. He also started in the final friendly on 1st August 2015 in a 2-0 win over EPL side, Everton, at Elland Road. He made a strong start for United in the League, scoring in the forty -third minute to open the Leeds scoring in a fine 2-1 win over Derby County at Pride Park on 22nd August 2015 and being the only Leeds midfielder to remain ever-present after making his debut against Burnley at Elland Road in the opening game of the season. Rosler’s decisions were influenced by factors beyond his control – an injury to Luke Murphy and a suspension incurred by Lewis Cook in the first week of the season – but Adeyemi kept his place on merit. However, with the change of Managers in October 2015, when Steve Evans replaced Uwe Rosler, he found himself increasingly on the outer and played hardly any first team football in 2016. He was released by the club at the end of his loan spell. He went back to Cardiff City and on 18th August 2016, they sent him on a season long loan to Rotherham United.