Nigeria's Tolu Arokodare puts struggles with Wolves behind him, targets goals and glory with Ajax

Tolu Arokodare wants to put his stint with Wolverhampton Wanderers behind him and get back to doing the one thing he considers his primary responsibility - scoring goals and helping his team win football matches.

Arokodare arrived in Amsterdam on a season-long loan from Wolves last month, with Ajax holding an option to make the move permanent next summer.

The move offers the 25-year-old an opportunity to reset after a season in England, where the goals that had come so freely in Belgium dried up.

The Nigeria striker has already made a promising start to that process at Ajax, scoring on his first appearance in a preseason friendly against FC Volendam and then making an immediate contribution in the Eredivisie as he begins rebuilding after a difficult season in England.

But Arokodare has little interest in looking backward or offering explanations for why things did not work out at Wolves, preferring instead to look ahead.

"I don't think there's a real reason or there's a real excuse," Arokodare told ESPN. "I think it's part of the game.

"As players, we have seasons and moments like this in our careers, and it's something to learn from, that I've moved on from, and I'm focused on the new season.

"I've been preparing well with the Ajax team and the players and I'm focused on this season. I'm focused on getting better, focused on better things for myself. Focused on not making the same mistakes I did. That's all I'm focused on. Not focused on last season."

That season represented a reversal from where Arokodare had been just over a year earlier.

The striker left Genk for Wolves after the most prolific season of his career. He scored 21 league goals in 2024-25 to finish as the Belgian Pro League's top scorer and won the Ebony Shoe as the best player of African descent in Belgium.

He left Genk with 41 goals in 113 appearances in all competitions before moving to the Premier League, but England proved considerably more difficult.

Arokodare struggled to reproduce those numbers at Wolves. The Nigerian offered a straightforward assessment of his time in England and what lessons he learned there.

"The obvious, which might be very direct, is my job," he said. "I didn't do what my number one job is, which was to score goals, because I didn't do it as much as I would have loved to.

"And I think that's the goal for me this season, to score more goals and help the team. And obviously when you score goals, the team does better, you do better. That's one of my goals this season, my major goal.

"I never put numbers to what I want to do. I just try to do better than my previous season, and obviously my previous season, I didn't score a lot of goals, so my aim now is to do better than my season in Belgium. Or to do the same, just to score goals as much as I can."

There are already signs that the change of scenery is proving to be beneficial to the forward.

Arokodare scored on his first Ajax appearance, coming off the bench in their final preseason friendly against FC Volendam on August 2 and scored the final goal of a 3-1 victory.

"It was a really nice feeling," Arokodare said. "Honestly, even though it was a friendly game, I was happy to come on to play because I hadn't played any game since the last game of last season.

"So I was happy to get some minutes to play and then to score and celebrate with my new teammates who were very happy and very supportive. And hopefully, we can, as a team, score more goals in the league, and then qualifications in the Conference League."

Since then, Ajax have been integrating Arokodare gradually into competitive football.

He was an unused substitute for the 3-1 Conference League qualifying win over Shelbourne on August 6 before making his Eredivisie debut three days later in Ajax's 2-0 victory at PEC Zwolle.

Arokodare came off the bench in the second half and quickly made his presence felt, setting up Jorthy Mokio for Ajax's breakthrough goal.

He was back in European action four days later, coming on during the second half of Ajax's 2-2 draw at Shelbourne. The result completed a 5-3 aggregate victory and sent Ajax into the Conference League playoff round, where they will now face Swiss side FC Sion on August 20.

He made another substitute appearance against Heerenveen on Sunday as Ajax surrendered a two-goal advantage in a 2-2 draw.

Those early appearances have come as Arokodare attempts to establish himself at a club where Nigerians have left a significant imprint.

Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu were part of Ajax's celebrated 1995 Champions League-winning team. Tijani Babangida and Sunday Oliseh followed them to Amsterdam, while Christopher Kanu and Pius Ikedia were among the other Nigerians to wear the famous red and white shirt.

Arokodare acknowledges that history, but says it is something to respect rather than a burden to carry as he tries to write his own story in Amsterdam.

"There's been a lot of Nigerian legends that have come here," he said. "They have stamped their names in the history of the club. Not just as Nigerian legends, but as legends of the sport, along with others from different parts of the world. I just wanted to come be part of the history, to come be part of this club.

"But I'm coming to be myself, to play my football and be great for myself and for the club. I'm not really focused on what other people have done. This is not me saying they didn't do great.

"Like I said, they're legends of the club. They're legends of our country, legends of the game, and I respect it so much, and I think it's time for me to make my own name and do my own part, do my own job."

Ajax's history was only part of the attraction. Arokodare said conversations with the club's sporting director and coach convinced him that Amsterdam was the right place to restore his form.

"I mean, obviously, it's very special," he said. "It's a club with ambitions, a club that always wants to win the league, a club that always wants to play in Europe.

"I had a call with the sports director and the coach, and I liked the project that they proposed, and it was very interesting for me.

"It's a club with history, and I wanted to be part of the history and part of the project.

"Obviously, I didn't have the best of seasons last year, last season, and I thought this would be a move, and it should be a place for me to grow and get back to my good form, and progress.

"The sports director and the coach, they proposed something very good for me, a good project, and, like I said, I just wanted to come and work with them and grow with them, and get back to the top with them."

Getting Ajax back there is also part of the assignment.

The Dutch giants are competing in the Conference League this season - a level Arokodare acknowledges falls short of where a four-time European champion expects to be.

Ajax advanced past Shelbourne and will play Swiss side FC Sion in the Conference League playoff round, beginning with Thursday's first leg in Switzerland. The return leg is in Amsterdam on August 27

"Obviously, Ajax are the biggest club in the Dutch league, and we know, as a team, as players, as football fans, everybody knows that," Arokodare said.

"No disrespect to the Conference League, but the Conference League is not where Ajax as a team want to be. You want to be playing in the Champions League.

"So obviously, the major aim for this season is winning games and winning the title and getting back to the right position, which is playing in the Champions League.

"But for now, we are in the Conference League and we're going to deal with what we have and what's in front of us. Deal with the task that we have right now, which is the Conference League, and we're focused on that and focused on winning the titles and getting back to the rightful position."

There should be some familiarity for Arokodare as he adjusts.

Before England, the striker had already played in Latvia, Germany, France and Belgium, and he sees similarities between the Belgian and Dutch leagues.

"I wouldn't say there are too many adjustments to make," he said. "Obviously, they're different leagues, but football is similar at the end of the day.

"And the Dutch league is quite similar to the Belgian league. And the English league is obviously, everyone says, just one of the best leagues in the world, if not the best.

"Football stays the same football, the movement is the same. I just have to keep playing my football and work with my teammates and I think everything will come as it is supposed to."

Ajax's next European opponent is FC Sion on August 20, followed by the return leg in Amsterdam on August 27.