Ola John

Ola John

John with Twente in 2011
Personal information
Full name Ola John
Date of birth (1992-05-19) 19 May 1992
Place of birth Zwedru, Liberia
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position Winger
Club information
Current team
 Wolverhampton Wanderers
(on loan from Benfica)
Number 15
Youth career
1998–2002 DES Nijverdal
2002–2010 Twente
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2012 Twente 46 (9)
2012– Benfica 55 (3)
2014 → Hamburger SV (loan) 8 (0)
2015–2016 → Reading (loan) 28 (4)
2016– → Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) 2 (0)
National team‡
2009 Netherlands U17 3 (1)
2010–2011 Netherlands U19 9 (3)
2011–2014 Netherlands U21 15 (1)
2013– Netherlands 1 (0)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 5 November 2016.

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 6 February 2014

Ola John (born 19 May 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for English club Wolverhampton Wanderers, on loan from Portuguese club Benfica, as a winger.

Club career

Twente

The 2011–12 season was the big breakthrough for John at Twente, as he got a starting place from Co Adriaanse at the start of the season, and did not lose that even with competition for the left forward position, as Nacer Chadli returned from injury. He also topped the UEFA Europa League group stage assist rankings with six assists.[1][2] In Twente's home match in the Europa League against Odense BK on 3 November, John provided all three assists in a 3–2 win.[3] John was influential in the Eredivisie campaign as well, netting two goals in a 6–2 victory over FC Utrecht on 4 December 2011.[4]

Benfica

On 24 May 2012, John signed for Portuguese club Benfica on a five-year deal that includes a €45 million release clause[5][6] for a transfer fee of €9.1 million according to Football Leaks.[7] It was rumored that 80% of the undisclosed went to sports investment company Doyen Sports.[8][9] After struggling to find his space in the first team during his initial months in Lisbon, John became a regular starter or used substitute in the second half of Benfica's 2012–13 campaign, which included appearances in UEFA Europa League and Portuguese Cup finals.

He was loaned to Hamburg for the remainder of the 2013–14 season on 17 January 2014.[10]

He stayed at Benfica for the new season, scoring his first league goal on 12 September 2014 against Vitória Sétubal.[11] On 5 October, he gave two assists in a 4–0 home win against Arouca in Portuguese league.[12] On 29 May 2015, John scored the winning goal against Marítimo (2–1) in the league cup final.[13]

Reading (loan)

On 1 September 2015, John was loaned out to Football League Championship side Reading for one season.[14] Reading have an option to sign him on a permanent deal at the end of the loan spell. He scored his first goal for Reading in the home match against Huddersfield Town on 3 November 2015.[15]

Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan)

On 22 August 2016, John returned to the Championship, to join Wolverhampton Wanderers on a season-long loan.[16]

International career

In February 2012, John was called up for the first time by Bert van Marwijk to represent the senior Netherlands football team for the game against England at Wembley.[17] On 7 May 2012, he was named in the provisional list of 36 players for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, one of nine uncapped players to be chosen by Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk as part of the preliminary squad.[18]

Personal life

As a two-year-old, John fled with his mother and brothers from Liberia to the Netherlands. His father was killed during the bloody First Liberian Civil War. He did not return to the African continent until the Youth World Championship in Nigeria in 2009. As a child, he played at the amateur club VV DES in Nijverdal. Like his brothers Collins and Paddy, Ola joined the youth academy of Twente.[19]

John married Jane, making her Jane John, in Liberia in 2014. The couple have three kids including their oldest child Jane John Junior.

Club statistics

As of match played 2 April 2016[20][21]
Club Season League National Cup[nb 1] League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Twente 2010–11 Eredivisie 13130—30191
2011–12 33830—141509
Total 46960——1716910
Benfica 2012–13 Primeira Liga 2204240122424
2013–14 5011102091
2014–15 263304120354
2015–16 2010000030
Total 5539391162899
Hamburger SV (loan) 2013–14 Bundesliga 8010————90
Reading (loan) 2015–16 Championship 2844010——334
Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan) 2016–17 Championship 000000——00
Career total 1321620310133319523
  1. ↑ Includes Johan Cruijff-schaal XVI and Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.

Honours

[20]

Twente
Benfica

References

  1. ↑ "Ola John". ESPN FC. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  2. ↑ Scholten, Berend (28 November 2011). "John coming on strong at Twente". UEFA.com. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "OB make Twente work hard for early progress". UEFA.com. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Report: FC Utrecht v Twente Enschede". ESPN FC. 4 December 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Official: Benfica sign Ola John from Twente". Goal.com. 25 May 2012. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  6. ↑ Tijd. "'Benfica heeft FC Twente-talent John beet'" (in Dutch). Voetbalprimeur.nl. Archived from the original on 25 May 2012.
  7. ↑ "O que o Football Leaks diz de Sporting, FC Porto e Benfica" [What Football Leaks tells of Sporting, FC Porto and Benfica]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). 2 October 2015. Retrieved 25 July 2016.
  8. ↑ "Ola John 80% eigendom van investeringsmaatschappij Doyen". www.twenteinsite.nl/ (in Dutch). Twente Insite. 4 March 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "OLA JOHN". www.doyensports.com/. Doyen Sports. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  10. ↑ "Official: Hamburgo confirma chegada de Ola John por empréstimo" (in Portuguese). dn.pt. 17 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "V. Setúbal-Benfica, 0-5 (crónica)" [Vitória Setubal- Benfica, 0-5 (chronicle)]. Maisfutebol.iol.pt (in Portuguese). 12 September 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Benfica - Arouca (Jornada 7 Primeira Liga 2014-2015) - Liga Portugal
  13. ↑ Martins, Cláudia (29 May 2015). "Ola Jonas, o suspeito do costume" [Ola Jonas, the usual suspect] (in Portuguese). zerozero. Retrieved 30 May 2015. O suspeito do costume voltou a fazer das suas, mas foi o Ola John, não o Jonas.
  14. ↑ http://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/article/ola-john-reading-transfer-deadline-day-2663659.aspx
  15. ↑ "Reading 2-2 Huddersfield". BBC Sport. BBC. 3 November 2015. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  16. ↑ "Wolverhampton Wanderers sign Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Ola John". SportsMole. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 22 August 2016.
  17. ↑ Jackson, Jamie (28 February 2012). "Holland rediscover their old sparkle after that bitter taste of orange". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  18. ↑ "Euro 2012: Emanuelson misses out". ESPN FC. 15 May 2012. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  19. ↑ "Interview Ola John" (in Dutch). OnsOranje.nl. 8 October 2009.
  20. 1 2 Ola John profile at Soccerway
  21. ↑ "John, Ola" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 29 March 2014.
  22. ↑ Cunha, Pedro Jorge (17 May 2015). "Benfica bicampeão: 28 com as faixas e dois à espera" [Benfica back-to-back champion: 28 with the sashes and two await] (in Portuguese). Maisfutebol. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
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