NEW GULL PROFILES
Thomas Kelly – @tommyktufc
Tom discusses the newest Gulls signings
Gary Johnson boosted his playing squad with the signings of 22 year old defender Jacob Mensah and 23 year old striker Tope Fadahunsi from Maidstone United & Sutton United respectively. With the departure of Will Goodwin, Mark Ellis and Stephen Wearne, Gary has added to his ranks again after the signings of Ricky Aguiar, James Crole and Nico Lawrence.
Let’s take a quick look at our newest additions!
CAREER SUMMARY
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Born in Lambeth, Jacob began his career at Ramsgate FC in 2016 where he made over sixty appearances for the Isthmian level club.
After signing for Crystal Palace in 2019, Jacob found himself in the U23’s side but never made an appearance for the first team and was released by the end of the season.
Jacob made the move to Dorset to join newly promoted Weymouth in the following season, scoring one goal in his twenty-six appearances and helping the Terras stay up in the National League.
His performances caught the eye of newly promoted Morecambe and Jacob signed for the League One outfit, however he only appeared once, making a brief appearance in an EFL cup game away at Blackburn Rovers and at the end of the 21/22 season was subsequently released.
Newly promoted National League South champions Maidstone United signed him for the current season but with only eight appearances all season and seemingly fell out of favour with the management and Jacob now finds himself at TQ1.
FADAHUNSI
Tope’s footballing career began at Watford before moving to Tooting & Mitcham United, graduating from the youth side to the first team. He went international with a move to PS Kemi in Finland, a club who play at Level 4 of the Finnish Footballing pyramid. Kemi is a town located near the Swedish border just 117km away from Rovaniemi in Lapland with a population of just under 20,000 for those interested!
His stay in Finland was a short one and made the decision to study at Loughborough University, whilst playing for the football side making over 54 appearances, scoring 33.
After graduating with a degree in architecture (show off!), Tope departed the FA Vase semi-finalists and joined Sutton United after a successful trial, signed permanently in July 2022. He scored on his debut, netting the winning goal against Barrow.
His appearances for Sutton would mainly come from the bench and to date has netted three goals in all competitions in his nineteen appearances for the club.
MOST LIKELY/LEAST LIKELY TO
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Most Likely To:
- Be preferred to at least 2 or 3 of our existing centre backs.
- Be thankful to Gary Johnson for the opportunity.
Least Likely To:
- Refuse to celebrate if he scores against Maidstone at the end of January.
FADAHUNSI
Most Likely To:
- Cause me problems trying to spell his name correctly whilst tweeting on a game!
- Score a goal as a late sub.
Least Likely To:
- Watch replays of Corie Andrews in a TUFC shirt for inspiration
TALKING ABOUT JACOB & TOPE
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GARY JOHNSON – Jacob is a 6’3” defender, and again, we didn’t want to be caught short of defenders at our Club. He’s quick, very athletic and I’m sure – like Nico [Lawrence] – he’ll show his prowess in the coming weeks.
FADAHUNSI
GARY JOHNSON – “We’re very happy to introduce Tope Fadahunsi”.
“Tope is a forward, a strong lad who scored many goals for Loughborough in his early days. He caught the eye of Sutton United, and has been involved in nearly all their games – albeit mostly off the bench – but ourselves and Sutton believe that he’s ready now to play regular in the National League.
“There is an abundance of strikers at Sutton, they’re going well in the league, and we managed to convince them that it would be a good idea for Tope to come to us.”
HIGHLIGHTS
OTHER NOTES
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Jacob holds both British & Ghanian Citizenship.
FADAHUNSI
Scored against Chelsea (U23s) this season. Full name is Olusanya Temi Fadahunsi.
CONCLUSION
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Defensively from a Torquay perspective this season the rear-guard has been a clear weak link and in need of bolstering with some tough games to come. The lack of match time for Jacob is a bit of a concern but he does have experience at this level. Barring De Silva, our side has been lacking a lot of pace this season and it will be interesting to see how his speed will come to good use at the back. I’m sure Jacob will want to hit the ground running, considering how he hasn’t fully settled at any club in the last few years.
FADAHUNSI
I am a bit more excited for Tope’s signing as I’m sure he’ll be looking to prove his worth in the rumble and tumble that is the National League. That said, football league experience doesn’t always guarantee a good player but with Goodwin gone, I’m hopeful that between him, Jarvis and Crole, United can find goals to improve the goals difference deficit and most importantly get the Gulls up the league table.
He’s clearly an intelligent lad and will be hoping that this move will be the catalyst for him to get back into the Sutton first team or even a move to another EFL club in the future.
Best of luck to the new lads and welcome to Torquay United.
COYY – Tom
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