Union’s Eric Ayuk back from European trip ready to compete

CHESTER >> A look at Eric Ayuk’s year-by-year statistics, at best, perplexes. At worst, it serves as evidence for MLS’s continued failures in the player development department.

But mostly, for those who’ve watched the sprightly Cameroonian winger who will celebrate his 21st birthday just before the open of his fourth season with the Union, his career arc just befuddles.

Ayuk’s career track could go down as one of the great oddities in the Union’s bewildering history, no mean feat. Or it could stand as a tale of great organizational patience resulting in great payoff.

At the moment, Ayuk is a welcomed addition to the roster, someone whose best days remain ahead of him. And Ayuk is happy to be back in town after a season spent on loan in Sweden.

“We have new players, a new group and new opportunities for the young players,” Ayuk said last week during Union preseason at the Power Training Complex. “I’m happy to see all of my teammates that I left here before. I said thanks to the coach for brining me back because he knows that I have something I can give to the team here. It’s good for me and for my career that I’m back, and I’m happy to be back.”

It can be easily overlooked that the precocious Ayuk made 28 appearances (14 starts) for a thoroughly forgettable 2015 team, scoring two goals and adding two assists. At least his backflip celebrations were good for montages of the limited highlights from that season — if the one late in what became a 4-1 loss to Columbus in April drew the rebuke of his coach.

Far from a breakout season, 2015 seems to have been too much, too soon, or perhaps more an indictment of the 2015 squad than vouching for Ayuk’s skills. When Earnie Stewart arrived after that season and set about raising the general quality throughout the team, Ayuk was shunted to Bethlehem Steel, where he played 17 games, scoring three goals and an assist. He made just one appearance for the Union in 2016, going 90 minutes in the season finale, mostly so starters like Chris Pontius could rest ahead of a midweek wild card playoff game. It was the first time all season that Ayuk had even made the matchday 18.

Then in 2017, with international spots at a premium, Ayuk was loaned out to Swedish club Jonkopings Sodra. The move served the dual purposes of getting Ayuk match time while putting him in the shop window for a possible European suitor, something he remains a viable candidate for, given his abilities and international standing (as a semi-regular member of the Cameroonian Under-20 team who has trained with the Indomitable Lions full squad).

“I learned a lot about Sweden. It’s a nice country,” Ayuk said. “It was a good experience from me because I had to take lessons there to come back to Philadelphia to show what I’ve learned there. I’m very happy to come back and show what I learned. …

“It’s a lot of difference because there it is more tactics where here it is more physical than tactical. That’s the most different. Here it is physical. If you’re not strong you can’t play.”

The season abroad sounds personally rewarding, as life in picturesque Jonkoping, Sweden’s ninth-largest city on the shores of Lake Vattern, could be imagined to be. But on the field, it fell short of expectations.

Ayuk played just 12 matches, all as a substitute, and logged 179 minutes, scoring one goal for J-Sodra. The club finished 14th in the Allsvenskan and was relegated via playoff. Ayuk was an unused sub in the first playoff leg and failed to make the 18 in the second.

Union manager Jim Curtin admits that the minutes Ayuk got weren’t what the club would’ve liked, but the experience was beneficial.

“He has a great mentality,” Curtin said on a conference call Thursday. “The guys all obviously love him. He has a smile on his face. Anytime you go to Europe and play, you will learn new things. I think he only has grown as a player. Obviously didn’t get the minutes that we had hoped, but still a great experience both on and off the field. He comes in a year sharper, and people still forget he’s a 20-year-old winger with a high upside.”

Curtin is adamant that even with the addition of David Accam — another fast African winger who spent time in Scandinavia in his early 20s — he wants options out wide. It’s not a position where two or three bodies suffice, so the club’s quintet will find opportunities.

That’s what Ayuk is focused on. Even if a European cameo seems like an appetizer for a return trip to the continent sooner rather than later, Ayuk is reticent to say that it whetted his appetite, choosing instead to focus on the present.

“The most important thing is to work hard and have the confidence to play,” he said. “The coach and the staff have confidence in me, so all that I can do is to give my best in training and give my best to the games, and I hope to give all of the heart that I always give.

“My dream is to play at a big club, like the Philadelphia Union. … I’m really happy to be back here. And I don’t know the future but the most important thing is to work hard and we’ll see what is coming on.”