There is a certain type of madness that separates the brilliant from the broken. It is not always tactical genius or clinical finishing. Sometimes, it...
There is a certain type of madness that separates the brilliant from the broken. It is not always tactical genius or clinical finishing. Sometimes, it is sheer bloody mindedness. And if the reports filtering in from Compton Park are anything to go by, Tolu Arokodare has it in spades.GoalZaza can confirm that a routine training session at Wolverhampton Wanderers was abruptly cancelled this week. The reason The club's new striking asset, Tolu Arokodare, simply refused to leave the pitch. Sources describe a scene of growing confusion as coaching staff, fitness coaches, and eventually first team players attempted to coax the Nigerian forward inside. He would not budge. He wanted more. More repetitions. More goals. More work.Now, in the age of load management and data driven recovery, this is an anomaly. Most players are desperate to get off the grass and into the ice bath. Arokodare, it seems, operates on a different frequency. It is the kind of obsessive behaviour that can disrupt a dressing room. Or it can galvanize it. There is a fine line between a player who is difficult and a player who is driven. This feels like the latter.For Gary O'Neil, this presents a fascinating conundrum. On one hand, you have a player so hungry for the game that he is willing to defy direct orders. On the other, you have a logistical headache and a potential precedent. You cannot have the entire squad's schedule dictated by one man's desire to stay on the training ground until it goes dark. But ask any Wolves fan whether they would rather have a striker who needs to be dragged off the pitch or one who is checking his watch before the final whistle. The answer is obvious.This is not a crisis. This is a signal. Arokodare is sending a message to the manager, to his teammates, and to the Premier League. He is not here to make up the numbers. He is here to put the ball in the back of the net, and if that means cancelling a session and ruffling a few feathers, so be it. The question now is whether O'Neil can harness that fire without getting burned.
