Major League Soccer’s secondary transfer window opened on Thursday, July 18th and Union fans got a taste of Sporting Director Ernst Tanner’s plans as the club signed forward Samuel Adeniran from St. Louis City SC.
So, who is the team’s newest addition?
He’s a 6-foot-4 Texas-born 25-year-old, who penned a deal with the team through 2024 after stints in Europe, USL Championship, and Major League Soccer. Most recently, he contributed 10 goals through 35 appearances with St. Louis.
After just three days with the club following an itinerary that included watching Wednesday’s 5-1 win from a suite in the stadium, physicals, a mini-media day, then his introductory training sessions with the group, Adeniran earned a decent shift of second half play time on Saturday against Nashville SC. He tallied 29 minutes in the team’s 3-0 win, impressing early with his size and speed.
“Sam came into the game and I thought influenced it in a big way,” Head Coach Jim Curtin said postgame. “You see how good he is and how strong he is in the air. He has the speed to get in behind. Could have had a couple goals, but we’ll save those for the 1-0 wins rather than the 4-0s at the end of the game.”
With playoffs still in reach despite a tough stretch to start the summer, his addition, paired with a healthy group at long last, better positions the Union for what they hope will be a strong late-season run.
Adeniran’s signing has been a long time coming – Tanner shared that he and his scouts have had their eyes on the Nigerian-American since his days playing in Germany four years ago.
“We are tracking all American players over the globe, more or less. He was playing at a club, which, by incident, was very, very close to where a scout of ours was based. He told me, ‘Hey, listen, there is somebody playing here from the United States. I know him and you should have a look,'” Tanner said.
“It looked interesting, but at the time, it was not necessarily that he would have been capable of playing in MLS. But he got over to Seattle for the second team, made his way through an expansion club [in St. Louis City] and made really good strides. I was closely following him and asking for him, basically since last summer, as a potential replacement for Julian. The time was not right then, and now we got lucky that we could bring him in,” Tanner said.
When describing what stood out most in his years scouting Adeniran, powerful was the first word Tanner used.
“He's very quick, very agile, very athletic,” he added. “Also, he's a good header, so we can definitely use that.”
So far, Adeniran’s transition has gone as smoothly as one could hope – his older brother is a Villanova Law alum and offered him a place to stay, so he’ll be surrounded by family as he takes on this new chapter in Philly.
