After joining United on a season-long loan from Bournemouth, promising forward Dan Adu-Adjei has opened up on what inspired his move.
Speaking to CUTV, he said: “I’m just really excited, happy to obviously get it done. I’m just really looking forward to getting the season started, not too long until the season starts, so just really excited to get going.”
The 19-year-old featured for Fulham and Brentford in his youth career, before joining the Cherries. When asked about his development at those club, he stated: “I’ve obviously learned a lot from each of those clubs, I feel like they’re all slightly different in what they sort of try to implement into their players, so I think that taking pieces from all of those has helped me to become quite a well-rounded player, so hopefully I can bring that to the squad here.”
The youngster featured on the bench on a number of occasions for Bournemouth’s first team in the Premier League, whilst also making his senior debut in the FA Cup Third Round against QPR earlier this year.
“That’s obviously like a really good experience to just be in and around that sort of high level and try and learn as much as I can in how they conduct themselves, off the pitch especially, and I feel like I’ve tried to put that into my game as much as I can.
“[My debut] was obviously one of the best moments of my career, so I was obviously really happy to do that, but just pushing to make more first team appearances and get more experience.”
Last term, Dan netted 25 times in as many appearances for the Cherries’ Development Squad. Speaking on his form during that period, he said: “I feel like I developed a lot especially in confidence, I feel like as a striker once you start scoring goals you just sort of buzz off that and just keep building off that, so I feel like I did that well last season, hopefully I’ll do that again this season.”
Adu-Adjei then made the mid-season switch to Leyton Orient – his first EFL loan. “I feel like I probably struggled a bit with game time. I still think that I obviously learned a lot from being around the first team, getting minutes here and there, obviously scored my first EFL goal there as well and made my league debut, so I feel like I can still take a lot from that and hopefully bring it here.
“I feel like going from under-21s football, it’s obviously a big jump to men’s football, but I feel like I learned about different ways to try and get the better of defenders, even though I might not be as strong as them.”
His temporary move to the Sky Bet League One outfit presented a different challenge for the attacker. Three points became the main aim rather than the focus being solely on development.
“I kind of enjoy that sort of pressure to where it’s not all about playing well or like you said development, it’s more about getting the win and getting the three points. I feel like I feed off that quite well and I enjoy that pressure, so looking forward to doing that again this season.
“I love playing in front of a crowd and obviously I’ve heard good things about the crowd here at Carlisle so just looking forward to getting out on the pitch and playing that first league game, just really looking forward to it.”
Following his impressive stint with the Development Squad at Bournemouth, Dan earned a new long-term deal in June, before making the loan move to Brunton Park.
“That’s something that was just a really big moment for me and I was really proud to do that and just hope to build off that and use that to give me confidence to keep pushing and hopefully do well this season.
“Just want to pay back that confidence that they put in me and hopefully gain as much experience as I can here and hopefully do as well as I can.”
It’s a move which has been in the works for a while now. Talking on this in further detail, he added: “It’s probably been about three or four weeks. Obviously the pre-season tour with Bournemouth didn’t really help because I had to go to that before coming here, but yeah, I’m just really happy to finally be here and join the squad.
“I feel like I learned a lot from training at a high level everyday and obviously there was that physicality there as well so hopefully I can use some of that when I come here.”
Speaking on his conversations with the manager and owners, Dan said: “It’s really encouraging. Obviously it seems like the main ambition is to obviously get promoted back to League One and I feel like based on what I’ve heard and what I’ve been told it obviously seems very likely, and it seems like that’s the main ambition of the team.
“I’m really looking forward to hopefully doing that.”
“I’m just getting a really good feeling from the club, everyone’s really nice, everyone’s really welcoming, so yeah, I’m just really look forward to getting started,” said Adu-Adjei on the day he signed for United.
Describing his game, he added: “I think the main thing is I’m a goalscorer, I like to score goals, like to get in the box, like to press high and put defenders under pressure. I like to run in behind, I can hold it up as well so I think I’m sort of like a well-rounded striker, so I just want to bring as much as I can, especially goals to the team.”
It’s been made clear that promotion is the aim for the 2024/25 campaign, when asked how onboard he was with this target, he stated: “Very, I feel like obviously as a footballer you always want to win and want to try as well as you can for promotion and it’s something that’s very possible, so just really looking forward to hopefully doing it.”
Looking ahead to his first training session with the rest of the squad on Friday, our newest recruit said: “I’m very excited to train with them and obviously we’ve got the friendly on Saturday as well so really looking forward to that, so yeah, just can’t wait to get started.
“The pitch looks great when I went out there to have a look at it so just can’t wait to get to play and get the opportunity on the pitch.
“It’s really inspiring that a lot of work’s being put into the club to try and build it up and I just want to be a part of that.”
The Blues get their League Two campaign underway on 10 August as they travel to Priestfield Stadium to take on Gillingham.
“It’s another long journey, but yeah, just looking forward to a league game, obviously that’ll be my first competitive game of the season, well everyone’s first competitive game, so just really looking forward to that feeling again because it’s obviously been a while since the end of last season.”
