Isaac Ogundere (AFC Wimbledon)
Isaac Ogundere progressed through the youth setup at AFC Wimbledon after spells in the Brentford and Hayes & Yeading systems, and quickly established himself within Wimbledon’s academy structure, even captaining the under-18 side before signing his first professional contract. Early in his senior career he gained experience through loan spells with Leatherhead, Potters Bar Town and Dartford, building up regular minutes in non-league football before returning to push for a place in Wimbledon’s first team.
He gradually became a regular at Wimbledon, passing 50 appearances for the club at a young age and then playing a major role in their promotion from League Two in the 2024-25 season, featuring heavily throughout that campaign and surpassing 100 league appearances for the club. He has remained a regular since their move into League One, starting 37 matches in the 2025-26 season and playing more than 3,000 minutes, mainly across the back line where he has been one of the more consistent selections in their defence.
Doing my research for this, something really caught my eye. Ogundere had unsuccessful trials with Barnet, Watford, Leyton Orient and Fulham before being spotted playing for Hayes and Yeading. I love that focus and determination to keep playing and believing in himself. It might be obvious, but it resonated with me a lot, so I dug a little deeper.
The 23-year-old’s numbers stack up nicely as well. He’s a right-back, which I think we might be recruiting, and he’s steadily built his reputation as part of a solid Wimbledon defence that blocks the frame and puts everything on the line. That’s us, that is. This season, he has the highest number of defensive duels of any player, 300, 26 clear of third-placed Conor McGrandles, and he’s 17th for interceptions, 174, just 13 behind Tendayi Darikwa, who sneaks into the top ten. He’s third for shots blocked with 30, Sonny Bradley is top with 38, underlining his attitude when it comes to protecting his goal.
He is young, his attitude seems right and his numbers stack up, so even if a promoted side doesn’t take him to the Championship, I do expect a team to come and take him for the top end of League One in the summer.