Deji Elerewe has been something of a phenomenon this season for Lincoln City. After his £120,000 move from Bromley, it took him a while to settle in, but he’s now making a name for himself.
He’s regularly named Man of the Match by Stacey West readers and pundits, something likely to happen again when the numbers are in from the win at Bristol City. He’s big, strong, carries and distributes well and has good pace. He looks like a huge prospect, and I found out who his biggest influences are in this morning’s press conference.
On the field, he named two players he used to watch a lot, Premier League icons of a certain era.
“I used to watch a lot of Thiago Silva as a Chelsea fan,” he said, citing the Brazilian who is still going strong at Fluminense.
“I used to watch a lot of John Terry and players like that. But I feel like I try and watch a lot of different players around, try and take the good parts of their game and try and add it to mine.”
While he named some heavyweight players as influences, there is another influence on his game. Deji’s Dad has been spotted at every away game this season, even pre-season matches against Grimsby Town, essentially training sessions.
Away from the football side of things, it’s clear that Deji is heavily influenced by a supportive and engaged family behind him.
“My dad’s just a key role model for me. Throughout everything, he’s been there. Even back in my childhood days, he was at all my games, everything.
“But yeah, my dad, my mum, my brother, they’ve also been key, key foundations for me, so I’m grateful for them as well.”
This was the first time I have got to speak to Deji, and I was struck by his grounded, humble responses. You often forget that these mammoth footballers, so combative, aggressive and commanding on the field, are, essentially, often just young people.
Deji comes across as a really solid individual and personality first and foremost, with the huge bonus of being pretty damn good at football as well.
Comments Welcome!