Despite being ‘explosive,’ can Tolu Arokodare truly replace Onuachu’s vacuum at Genk?

On the brink of the January transfer deadline, the Nigerian international, Tolu Arokodare, completed a stunning switch from Amiens FC to KRC Genk in Belgium.

Following the departure of their star player, Paul Onuachu, who made a “dream” move to Southampton, the Smurfs were able to sign the striker for somewhere around €5 million.

After moving to the Luminus Arena, Arokodare said it was the finest professional decision he had ever made.

The Nigerian striker recently started out on the bench for the Belgian team and scored on his first effort.

Following this, Wouter Vrancken, Tolu’s new manager, praised him, disagreeing with Philippe Hinschberger’s critique of Tolu Arokodare, claiming he is “more explosive than Onuachu.”

Before making his debut, Soccernet.ng reported that the head of football for Genk, indicated that the Nigerian is the best stand-in for Onuachu, and there is no one better.

With all these supportive remarks, it seems that Genk as a whole is merely using this move to conceal their sadness about losing their star player and dry their tears.

For Amiens SC, Arokodare was not at his best during last season, and his scoring ability was not up to pace. The Nigerian averaged 0.36 goals per game, converting just 11% of his goal chances into actual goals, while scoring 21 goals and dishing out four assists for the French team.

For a striker who started out as a true goal hacker at Valmiera FC in the Latvian league, with 22 goals in 34 games, they are by no means remarkable numbers. But after that, Arokodare failed to demonstrate his ability as a productive and efficient striker at either FC Köln or Amiens SC.

He was particularly unsteady in France, and his attacking stats throughout his stay at Amiens were below par. Compared to Onuachu’s stats in three and a half seasons at KRC Genk, they are glaringly different.

The Super Eagles attacker averaged an absurd 0.81 goals per game. With a target effectiveness of 25%, Onuachu was likewise quite effective in scoring goals.

However, he was leading the Belgian Pro League with 16 goals prior to his transfer to Southampton, so it could take Arokodare longer to catch up this season.

However, it would be more accurate to state that the former Valmiera player was given a clean slate and a huge performance gap to cover, and perhaps, he will.