Rewind twelve months and Cambridge United apprentice Samuel Okolie was in and out of the team, lacking belief both on and off the pitch. A year on, the 17-year-old has represented the Seychelles senior national team on the world stage and now cuts a confident figure as he sits down with LFE at the club’s training ground to discuss his journey so far.
Raised in Finchley, North London, Okolie spent his childhood much like many of the other local kids, playing football. “My first footballing memory would’ve been just playing in the garden with my dad when I was maybe four or five years old,” Okolie told LFE. “I joined my first team when I was eight and played simply out of enjoyment, as you do when you are young. It wasn’t until I got a little older that I realised I had some talent and began to take it more seriously.”
As Okolie reached his early teenage years, his confidence grew and his ability began to shine through. After excelling for his school team and various local grassroots clubs, he was offered a trial at Cambridge United – his first taste of academy football. “I went on the trial, did really well, and scored some goals. Despite the pressure, I was still having fun, and that was the most important part to me. I signed in November 2024 and pretty much went straight into my apprenticeship.”
Despite the thrill of earning his first contract at a professional club, the fact that he had joined the academy system at a later age than most meant a challenging period awaited Okolie. “It was a shock to the system,” admits Okolie. “The levels in training and matches were a lot higher than what I was used to. I also had to adapt to coming into training four or five times a week and being in a professional environment constantly. The majority of the squad had been together for six or seven years, so at first, I did feel a bit out of place. I had the talent, but I didn’t have the chemistry with the other players, and that was difficult. I’d say it took me a good year to find my feet and feel comfortable enough to start building real connections with everyone.”
The young forward also had to come to terms with living away from home for the first time in his life. “That was hard for me. I’d spent my whole life living with my parents and seeing them every day. All of a sudden, I was only getting to see them once a week at best. I sat down for a conversation with them though and they made me see the situation as a positive. They told me I was learning life skills that many people at my age aren’t. It’s helped me mature and grow up a lot faster.”
Looking back on his difficult period of adaptation in greater detail, Okolie feels the experiences and obstacles encountered during his apprenticeship have stood him in good stead. “The apprenticeship programme has really brought me out of my shell and made me much more sociable. I’ve always naturally been a quiet person, but over the last 12 to 18 months I’ve learned to push myself out of my comfort zone. I used to be very reserved and reactive in my interactions with other people, but now I make an effort to say hi and form proper conversations. The apprenticeship has taught me to use my initiative.”
Okolie’s rise in confidence over the last twelve months is encapsulated by his recent on-the-pitch exploits. After some impressive displays for the U’s under-18s in the early stages of the season, an unrecognised phone number rang on the 17-year-old’s phone. “I received a call from the Seychelles under-17s head coach. He had watched clips of me from some of my games and invited me to a training camp in France. I did really well. I played in seven games, mostly against French academies and some lower-division senior teams and scored nine or ten goals.
“I then came back for a few days before going out again for another tournament, this time against other countries’ youth sides, and I proved myself to be one of the best players there. I scored two goals in four games and was able to show my strengths even more.”
His impressive displays for the youth team didn’t go unnoticed, as he received a call-up to the senior national team shortly after – a moment of immense pride for the second-year apprentice. “It came as such a big surprise,” Okolie confesses. “It all happened so quickly after my initial experience with the under-17s, and I just couldn’t believe it, but I was so proud. I was so happy to see that all my hard work up to this point had resulted in an opportunity like this.
“I was mainly happy for my parents, though. The fact that I was able to give something back to them after everything they have done for me felt amazing. Driving me to all my training sessions and matches when I was younger and following me to whatever team I went to, they gave me the best possible platform to achieve something like this. They always wanted me to represent my country, and to be able to do it whilst they are still present is something that I am so grateful for.”
Okolie jetted out to join the senior squad for a series of FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September and October against the likes of Gabon, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Gambia, featuring in three of the four matches against some of African football’s biggest stars. “It was an incredible experience and learning curve. As an academy player you always hear coaches say that as the level goes up, you get punished even more for mistakes because the tempo and quality so much higher and it’s so true. It was pretty humbling to feel it in person. The intensity of their play, and quickness of decision making is very different from under-18s football.
“I played against some top players. Against Ivory Coast I was up against players like Willy Boly, Franck Kessie, Simon Adingra, Sebastian Haller and Ibrahim Sangare. You watch them on TV and they obviously look good, but until you see the quality in person you don’t actually understand just how good they are.
“The main thing I took from that experience was seeing where I’d like to be in five to ten years. Witnessing the minor details that they have in their game was really important.”
Facing up against some of Europe’s elite wasn’t the only surreal experience Okolie was exposed to, with the match against Kenya played in front of 28,000 supporters. “Coming on as a substitute in front of a crowd like that was crazy. In academy football, you’re used to playing in front of coaches and a handful of parents, so to be on the international stage being watched by thousands was incredible. The raw passion and noise from the Kenyan fans whenever their team went on the attack was insane – it felt as if the stadium was erupting. I couldn’t even hear what the person next to me on the bench was saying, it was that loud.”
Okolie reflects on his first stint of international football with great fondness, certain that the experience has had a significant impact on him. “It’s made me so much more confident. Before I went, I was in the mindset of questioning whether I was even at the level required to be there, but I worked hard to show my ability. I’ve come back since with so much more belief in what I can do. I know I still have plenty of room for improvement, but to have already played for my country at 17 years old has been massive for my confidence. “Seeing those top players in action has made me really hungry to push on and improve. I want to reach a point where I’m consistently putting in eight or nine out of ten performances – I think that’s the difference between elite players and average players. I now know what I need to focus on, thanks to my time with the national team. I’ve learned so much.”
Okolie’s inspiring journey features in the recently released edition of LFE Touchline magazine. Read here.