“More explosive than Onuachu” – Coaches Hinschberger, Vrancken disagree over attitude of young Nigerian striker

KRC Genk manager, Wouter Vrancken has disagreed with Amiens SC head coach, Philippe Hinschberger on his controversial claims against Nigerian youngster Tolu Arokodare.

Earlier in the week, Philippe Hinschberger aimed cheap shots at Tolu Arokodare after the youngster completed his move from Amiens to Genk.

In France, Arokodare worked together with Hinschberger for a year and a half where he scored 21 goals and added four assists in 63 matches.

While admitting that the young Nigerian has talent, Hinschberger is not unhappy that Arokodare has left Amiens.

And the former Metz manager is full of knocks for Arokodare, insisting that he found it hard to work with the forward because he was not open to learning.

“Tolu is a player who needs a lot of time and energy. He is still in raw form,” Hinschberger said hours after Arokodare left for Belgium.

“From time to time, you want to make him work on passing, control, or his back-to-goal game. I think he has to get it into his head that he’s a young player, who needs to develop. From time to time, he forgets it and he trains like a pro who has a 15-year career.

“The misunderstanding that we both may have had was that I was asking him to work on his qualities. He’s still a youngster who needs to do a lot of basic things, and that’s not too much into it.”

Vrancken to the rescue

Genk secured the signing of Arokodare on transfer deadline day.

The Belgian league leaders brought the former FC Cologne loanee as a direct replacement for compatriot Paul Onuachu, who was allowed to join Premier League side Southampton on the same day.

And after a few training sessions with Arokodare, Genk’s manager Wouter Vrancken is already singing the praises of the 22-year-old.

Throwing Hinschberger’s claims into the trashcan, Vrancken is delighted that Arokodare is ‘eager’ to take in new knowledge.

“He is more explosive than Onuachu, who of course already has more experience as a finisher,” Vrancken said, as per VoetbalKrant.

“But Tolu is a young player with a lot of potentials, he was at the top of our wish list. He has a good bounce and is very eager to learn. He asks a lot of questions, which I think is very positive. 

“We are patient with him because all our game principles are new to him. Both offensively and defensively. He was used to being played on his body, after which they would see what happened. That is why we will work intensively with him in the coming weeks.”

Dream debut

Arokodare could not have asked for a better debut in the Jupiler League as the striker came off the bench to score in Genk’s 3-2 win away to KAA Gent at the weekend.

The Lagos-born attacker could not hide his pleasure at how fantastic everything has gone in his first few days in Genk.

“I can’t even explain how much I feel, scoring on my debut, we win away from home, it’s unbelievable,” Arokodare said.

“My first days at the club went very well, on and off the pitch. My teammates are great, they help me a lot. I think that like me you could see the level of the team, it is quite high. Even Paul Onuachu gave me some advice when I saw him just before his departure. The goal is obviously to be champions.”

Arokodare has big shoes at Genk to fill as Onuachu registered 85 goals and ten assists for the Smurfs before departing for England.