Ajose, Nicholas Olushola (Nicky)

2014-2015 (Player Leeds Details)(Player Details)

Striker/Winger

Born: Bury, Lancashire: 07-10-1991

Debut: v Millwall (a): 09-08-2014

Height & Weight: 5ft 11ins 12st 3lb

Born in Bury, he joined Manchester United Academy and progressed through their junior teams, gaining four England Under-Sixteen Cap when he made his debut on 28th December 2006 against Scotland until his last game at Wembley against Spain on 28th April 2007 before making one appearance against Turkey on 31st August 2007 with the Under-Seventeen team. He signed professional forms at Old Trafford on 1st July 2009 and by the end of the season he had made his debut for the Premier Reserve League team when he came on as a half-time replacement for Rodrigo Possebon in a 2-0 home win over Burnley on 18th March 2009. By the end of the season he had sat on the bench three times in addition to his substitute appearance. In 2010-11 in addition to making a start for the reserves in a 2-2 draw with Liverpool on 5th May 2011, a game in which he got his second goal at that level in the seventeenth minute to give United the lead before being substituted in the fifty-ninth minute by Ravel Morrison, he also scored four minutes after coming on as a seventy-fourth minute substitute for Ravel Morrison in a 1-3 defeat by Aston Villa on 16th September 2010. He also came on as a half-time substitute for Oliver Norwood in the 1-2 defeat by Blackburn Rovers on 11th May 2011 in the Reserve League play-offs. He had scored twice in one start and three substitute appearances and sat unused on the bench three times. He was sent out on loan to League 2 side Bury on 24th September 2010 and spent the rest of the season there. On 29th September 2010, he made his debut as an eightieth minute substitute for Ryan Lowe in a 2-0 away win at Cheltenham Town. This was followed by his full run on debut on 9th October 2010, in which he played the entire game and bagged his first goal for the Shakers in the fifty-seventh minute. By the end of the season he had scored thirteen goals in twenty-two starts and six games as a substitute and also sat unused on the bench once, as Bury finished runners-up in League 2 and gained promotion. He also started two F.A. Cup games without scoring. On 5th July 2011 he was transferred to Championship side, Peterborough United, who were managed by Sir Alex Ferguson's son, Darren, for a fee of £300,000 on a four year contract. After his success at Bury, his new employers were expecting immediate results from him at London Road, but it did not happen. Instead, after making his Peterborough debut on 6th August 2011 in a 2-1 home win over Crystal Palace in which he was substituted by David Ball after just twenty-seven minutes when he picked up a hamstring injury, and after that start, one game as a substitute and one game unused on the bench in both the Championship and League Cup, he was loaned to League 1 side, Scunthorpe United, on 22nd September 2011 and played his first game as a substitute for Bobby Grant on the hour mark in a 2-1 home win over Yeovil Town on 24th September 2011. He made his run-on debut two weeks later in a 2-3 home loss to Leyton Orient when he was replaced by Bobby Grant after sixty-eight minutes. He made two starts and five substitute appearances and sat unused in three other League 1 games, also made one start and was once an unused substitute in the F.A. Cup and made one start in the Football League Trophy, before returning to Peterborough on 2nd January 2012, not having scored a goal. He was almost immediately loaned to another League 1 side in Chesterfield before the close of the window on 31st January 2012. he made his debut for the Spirites on 4th February 2012 in a 1-2 defeat at Carlisle United, when he came on as a fifty-ninth minute substitute for Scott Boden. He made his starting debut on 14th February 2012 in a 1-1 draw against his hometown club at Gigg Lane and celebrated by opening the scoring four minutes before half-time before being substituted in the seventy- fourth minute by Scott Boden. He went on to feature in the squad fifteen times, making five starts and seven games from the bench and remained unused three times as he failed to add to his goal against his home town team. He only featured in one game in the 2012-13 seson for "The Posh", on 5th January 2013 when he came on as a fouty-fourth minute substitute for Nathaniel Knight-Percival in the 0-3 home defeat by Norwich City in the F.A. Cup, but was also an unused substitute in the League Cup on 4th August 2012 in a 4-0 home win over Southend United. He was loaned out twice during the season, both to League 1 sides, initially to Crawley Town on 17th August 2012 until the end of the calendar year and then for a second spell at Bury from 23rd January 2013 until the end of the season. He made his debut for Crawley Town on 18th August 2012 as an eighty-seventh minute substitute for Nicky Adams in a 3-0 home win over former club Scunthorpe United, but was included from the start a week later when they visited Doncaster Rovers. It was his goal in the eighty-seventh minute that gained his side a draw before coming off for Dannie Bulman three minutes later. He was again on the mark the following weekend with the winner in the seventy-second minute as it ensured full points, before he made way for Jonathan Forte ten minutes later. In the League he made ten starts, came off the bench nine times and remained unused on six occasions for the two goals. He also scored in the second minute of added time to give Crawley a 2-1 home win in the League Cup over Bolton Wanderers on 28th August 2012 as he made one start and one substitute appearance in the competition and made one substitute appearance in the Football League Trophy. In his second spell at Bury he did recapture some of his old form and after making his debut in a 0-0 draw at Shrewsbury Town on 26th January 2013, he scored in both of the next two games with the second goal in the thirty- sixth minute in a 2-0 home win over Doncaster Rovers on 2nd February and the following week with a seventy-sixth minute equaliser to ensure a 2-2 draw at Brentford as he managed four goals from fifteen starts and four games from the bench. He was again loaned out at the start of the 2013-14 season, this time to League 1 side Swindon Town, making his debut on 31st August 2013 as a sixty-eighth minute substitute for Nathan Byrne in a 5-0 home win over Crewe Alexandra. A fortnight later he made his run-on debut in a 2-3 loss at Wolverhampton Wanderers until he was replaced by Dany N'Guessan on the hour mark. A week later, in his first full game for the Robins he scored twice, with goals in the nineteenth and forty-third minutes as he twice equalised with right foot shots as his new side went on to win 3-2 in a home game with Bristol City. He went on to score six goals in twelve starts and four games from the bench and sat unused three times in League games and scored four more in three starts in the Football League Trophy and also made one start in the League Cup and had one game from the bench in the F.A. Cup both without scoring before he returned to London Road on 1st January 2014. He went straight into the first team squad, starting in the 1-3 home defeat by Brentford that day before being replaced by Shaun Jeffers in the fifty-ninth minute replacement. It wasn't long before he got his first Posh goal as he scored the second with a right foot shot in the seventy-fifth minute in a 3-0 home win over Tranmere Rovers on 18th January 2014. He went even better three days later as he bagged a hat-trick in a 4-3 home win over Notts County, when he helped to get Posh back into the game as he reduced the arrears to 1-2 with a left foot shot after half-an-hour, before putting them 3-2 in the lead in the seventy-fourth minute with a shot from distance and finally clinching the game 4-3 with a right foot shot five minutes before the end of the game. He scored seven goals in nineteen starts and three games from the bench in League 1 and started both games in the League One play-offs, without scoring, in which they were eliminated by Leyton Orient. On 5th August 2014, with one year of his contract still to run, he was transferred to Leeds United on a three year contract for £150,000. He made his Championship debut for Leeds in the opening game of the season, on 9th August 2014, in a 0-2 defeat at Millwall and was replaced by Dominic Poleon with eleven minutes remaining. Three days later he again started, this time in a 2-1 home win in the League Cup tie with Accrington Stanley, coming off for Noel Hunt in the sixty-third minute. He again started in the 1-0 home win in the Championship against Middlesbrough, this time making way for Dominic Poleon with a quarter of an hour remaining. Three days later, he again started in the 0-2 home defeat by Brighton and Hove Albion when he was replaced at half-time by Matt Smith. He sat on the bench unused in the 1-2 League Cup defeat at Bradford City, which saw the sacking of coach David Hockaday and after that he failed to feature in the squad for the rest of the season. He went on loan to League One side, Crewe Alexandra, on 26th November 2014, initially until the beginning of January 2015. He was an instant success, scoring Crewe's only goal in the thirtieth minute of his second game in a 1-2 loss at Scunthorpe United on 13th December 2014, after making his debut in a 1-1 home draw with Doncaster Rovers three days after signing. He coninued to reguarly find the netscoring twice in a 2-1 away win on Boxing Day at Oldham Athletic and had scored three times in five starts before his loan was due to expire. On 8th January 2015, Crewe then negotiated an extension, which saw him stay until the end of the season. He celebrated that with a goal in the twenty-seventh minute, allbeit from the penalty spot in a 3-1 home win over Gillingham, two days later. He then scored four goals in the next six games before his scoring run ended, but he still managed to top the Railwaymen's scoring list for the season with eight goals. At the end of the season he had started twenty three and come on from the bench on four more occasions in the League. He returned to Leeds and would have been encouraged by new Manager Uwe Rosler's assertion that all players were going to be given an equal chance and then went further as he singled out Ajose for praise as a player who had impressed him in training. He started the first pre-seasonfriendlt in a 1-1 draw at Harrogate Town on 10th July 2015 and five days later got a run in another 1-1 draw, this time at York City, however, he was not included in the Leeds squad for their tour of Austria and Norway. On 2nd September 2015 his contract at Leeds was terminated by mutual consent and he joined Swindon Town on a free transfer and signed a three year contract with the Wiltshire club. He made his debut for them on 5th September 2015when he started in a 3-1 away win over Crewe Alexandra and scored the third goal in the final minute to complete a scoring debut against the club he had spent most of the previous season with.