Abdul Fatawu Issahaku: The Leicester City Attack Speedster

Dubbed one of the greatest African prospects of his generation, 20-year-old Ghanaian teenage sensation Abdul Fatawu Issahaku is already blossoming with a stellar reputation in the world of football, leaving no surprises as to how rapidly his stocks have risen in the last couple of years.

Starting from his hometown football club, Steadfast FC Fatawu began to hone his skills, which later served as a stepping stone for the teenager’s career. His talent stood him out from amongst a bevvy of youngsters.

He emerged and shone like a gift to a footballing generation, and it was due to this natural talent that former Ghana international Mohammed Gargo who was Fatawu’s coach at Steadfast FC, once tagged the player as a ‘replica’ of Ghanaian footballing legend Abedi Pele Ayew during an interview with Ghanaian television channel TV3.

Fast forward to the 2021 Under-20 African Cup of Nations, Fatawu shot to prominence as his performances propelled Ghana to a fourth title win in history, and an invitation to the Ghana Black Stars team followed, which led to the teenager becoming a subject of interest for several top clubs around Europe.

A big move to Sporting Club de Portugal happened in April 2022 as Fatawu signed for the Portuguese giants on a five-year deal, and just a little more than a year later, the 20-year-old joined then-English Championship side and 2016 Premier League champions Leicester City on a season-long loan.

Abdul Fatawu Issahaku has been one of the standout players in the championship this season, playing a key role in Leicester City’s high-flying campaign that has seen them land a return ticket to the top fight of English football— The Premier League, and Fatawu being a mainstay on the right side of Leicester’s attack has scored 7 goals and provided 13 assists in 46 appearances across all competitions for the foxes this season.

Blessed with blistering pace and trickery, Fatawu is certainly not the type of winger most full-backs will want to face. During his first full season of active football in Europe and at 19 years of age, he already gave championship full-backs assignments to look forward to before matchdays.

His magic wand of a left foot has been a very major source of creativity for Enzo Maresca’s side with a pass accuracy of 80.15% and a long pass accuracy of 72.09.

Overall statistically, Abdul Fatawu ranks in the 91st percentile for goal involvements per 90 and in the 78th percentile for non-penalty expected goals per 90. The fact that he has taken 19 shots in 18 championship matches this season also reflects the player’s hunger to make things happen with a conversion rate in the 54th percentile.

As highlighted earlier, creativity is currently one of the strongest sides of Fatawu’s game as he ranks above 95% of championship players with an expected assists output of 0.29 per 90.

Also, a cross-completion rate of 33.33% and a passing completion rate of 80.97% put the winger in the 86th and 56th percentile respectively. His 2.01 key passes per 90 which puts him in the 92nd percentile in the championship is also quite remarkable for a player of his age and experience. Another of Abdul Fatawu’s major and most evident strengths is his dribbling as he completes 3.41 dribbles per 90 putting him in the 99th percentile.

Fatawu is also one of Leicester City’s best crossers of the ball in the current squad as he’s either coming inside on his left foot to find runners at the back-post or going outside on his weaker right foot for a more direct cross.

He always some magic up in his sleeves whenever in the final third as he’s always getting involved in shot-creating actions, and it is this package of his that has turned Leicester coach, Enzo Maresca into a big fan.

The Leicester City wiz kid is one of Leicester’s most dangerous attacking weapons as he could cause havoc by coming inside on his favoured left foot or combine to very good effect with Wilfred Ndidi who is always ready to make intelligent runs behind any defender isolated in a 1v1 with the Ghanaian.

Coach Maresca had this to tell journalists about Fatawu in September; “Abdul is a real winger. This is the kind of winger I like. Every time he receives the ball, you as a journalist, the fans, and me as a manager, you always have a feeling something will happen. This feeling is good. He’s this kind of a winger.”

Fatawu’s pace, ball retention, and ability to take on his marker are always very much in handy when an isolation is created against opposition full-backs.

He’s already a naturally gifted dribbler; either accurately clipping balls to find runners at the back-post, or showing insane ball-striking reminiscent of Arjen Robben’s days at Bayern. He sure can develop into a player who could hurt teams in many ways.

The 20-year-old has also shown that he has got one key requirement or trait needed to succeed as a modern-day winger— a much better use of his weaker right foot will translate the player into a proper cheat code and a world-class winger.

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