Toyosi Olusanya's journey to St Mirren from cage football with Ademola Lookman to failed trial with Chelsea

The Buddies star has had quite a journey from South London's streets to Paisley and is now flying in the Scottish Premiership.

From a broken nose at Walton Casuals. To a broken dream at Chelsea. From begging his old teacher for a job. To a life-changing offer from Neil Warnock. From playing in a cage with a Europa League winner. To Ibrox and Celtic Park.

At first glance, it might look like Toyosi Olusanya has seen it all in the game. And boy, he’s had some journey to Paisley. But incredibly, the St Mirren striker feels like his football career is only just starting. Olusanya will be 27 next month. If he was five years younger? The likelihood is that big clubs in the UK and abroad would be watching him.

Searing pace is a stand-out attribute in the Scottish Premiership and Olusanya has it in abundance. When you add strength, running power and eye for a goal - it’s easy to see why Stephen Robinson took a punt on him.

And if he was looking for someone with resilience? Very few players in this league have displayed that quality more than Olusanya.

Raised in Peckham, South London, he was a cage football disciple. Skills were honed on a concrete surface alongside a childhood pal by the name of Ademola Lookman.

The Nigeria international is currently valued at £40 million, has played in the Premier League, Bundesliga and Serie A - and hit a hat-trick for Atalanta in their 2024 Europa League Final triumph. Olusanya was picked up by AFC Wimbledon but didn’t make the grade.

He ended up playing for non-league clubs that don’t even exist any more, like The Casuals. Covid forced him to find work. His old maths teacher, Mr Connolly, had a major impact on his life, not just his career.

Failed trials at Stamford Bridge, West Ham, Wolves and others followed. And eventually, from Billericay Town he somehow earned a move to Championship giants Middlesbrough. Olusanya still gets emotional remembering his mum, Adenike, in tears at the news. And now? He’s as content as he’s ever been, thanks to St Mirren. But how did he get here? It started in that Peckham cage.

He told Record Sport: “Whenever I wanted to play outside, I went to the cage straight across the road from our house.

“My friends would laugh at me because I always played with bigger boys. They’d watch from their windows and shout: ‘He’s in the cage again’. But it was a great environment. I actually went back there recently and the cage looked so tiny. It looked massive when I was a kid.

“It was just a bit of concrete but it was brilliant for us. I grew up two minutes away from Ademola. We went through school together and played in the same cage. When I watched him score that hat-trick in Dublin, I was buzzing for him. I used to see him do that in school matches.”

After rejection at Wimbledon, Olusanya was in danger of drifting out of the game. It would have been easy for him to give up. But that’s where Mr Connolly came in. He said: “I was getting injuries at non-league level. I was breaking my nose every other week and would end up at A&E for surgery.

“When the Covid lockdown came, I was only getting paid £100 a week so I needed a job. I reached out to the headteacher at my old school. He gave me a job as a student mentor and assistant in the PE department.

“I was finishing work at 4pm then getting on the train to Billericay where I was playing. It was so good of him to give me that opportunity because he didn’t have to.

“His name is Eamon Connolly and he was a massive influence on me. He was tough on me and, at times in class, it felt like he was picking on me. But when I left school, we kept in contact and when I needed a hand, he was there for me.

“In South London, it can be easy to go down the wrong path in life. But hopefully I showed him something at school. He could see I was bright and he wanted to support me.

“He allowed me to leave school half an hour early so I'd make training. Little things like that can make a huge difference. Looking back, it was so important in terms of getting to where I am now.”

Before getting to Billericay, Olusanya travelled the length and breadth of England trying to get a deal. He regrets how he treated Chelsea, as he chased a contract at Fulham. He says: “Chelsea were amazing. People met me at the front door, they put on a little presentation and I got my own training kit.

“I even had my own number. I was made to feel so welcome there - and I was only a trialist, I was there for six weeks but my agent said Fulham wanted to sign me. So I went there and it didn’t happen. They said they’d send me an offer but I heard nothing back.

“Chelsea would have been a dream. I called them back. I felt bad that I’d left abruptly but I was young and making decisions on my own.

“Unfortunately, Chelsea said they’d have appreciated me letting them know. They felt they couldn’t be second best to nobody. So they let me go and I was gutted.”

Still, Olusanya refused to give up. And before he knew it, he was sitting in a London hotel opposite Warnock agreeing terms on a move to Middlesbrough. It might not have worked out the way he hoped it would at the Riverside. But from there, he ended up in Paisley. And the front-man - who has bagged five goals already this term - believes he can still take his game to another level.

He said: “Billericay’s last pre-season game in 2021 was against Dagenham and I scored late on. I was buzzing. I met my agent in the car park and he asked if I had a change of clothes. We were going to Fulham to meet someone for a chat. I walked into this hotel and saw Warnock. I couldn’t believe it.

“He spoke to me and said he felt I had something as a player. That felt so good. In that moment, it felt like everything I had done - all the travelling, the knock-backs - was all worth it.

“I still remember it because I had shivers. It was surreal. My mum was working night-shift as a nurse and it was rare to have everyone home. I got to tell them all together and she was tearing up.

“I made my Championship debut against Blackburn. It was a hot day, the stadium was packed - it was just mad. I played three games for Boro before Warnock got sacked.

“Chris Wilder came in and it went downhill for me. I broke my foot which kept me out then I needed more surgery, a second operation. I knew then I wasn’t going to be a Middlesbrough player. That’s when I spoke to the gaffer here and this is the most settled I’ve ever been.

“At 26, I know I’m not the youngest pup around. But I feel I’ve got so much time and energy on my hands to keep developing. I don’t feel like I’ve hit my prime yet.”

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