James Akintunde explains how ex-Brandywell favourite Junior influenced his move to Derry City

The English striking duo were childhood friends and grew up playing football together on the streets of Thamesmead in southeast London from the age of 10.

And the pair are poised to cross paths once again in the League of Ireland Premier Division after Sligo Rovers surprisingly announced the signing of former Brandywell favourite, Junior around the same time Akintunde was unveiled on Foyleside on Saturday.

In fact the former Maidenhead United forward admits Junior influenced his move to Ireland having recommended the Candy Stripes as an option to kickstart his career following his release from the English National League club.

“I grew up in the same area of London with Junior,” explained Akintunde.

“We were playing football together since we were 10 years-old. He’s told me a lot about the league and a lot of nice things about Derry.

“It’s kind of funny that he signed for Sligo around the same time I signed for Derry and we meet each other in the first match,” he admitted.

“It’ll be nice to catch up with him but I’ll be treating him no different than any other opposition player should we meet on the field.”

He might need to wait a bit longer to reunite with Junior who, it’s understood, will have to self-isolate for a two-week period before linking up with his new teammates.

Junior joins Liam Buckley’s men from Israeli Premier League club, Hapoel Hadera pending a work permit and international clearance, a move which raised a few eyebrows amongst Derry fans.

Derry boss, Declan Devine will be hoping Akintunde can have a similar impact to former Colchester United striker, Junior who bagged 14 goals as City secured European football last season.

“He’s the type of player we’ve been after - strong and direct and he has looked good since coming in,” said the City manager.

“He can play anywhere across the front three and he will give us good options in attack.

“He’s here until the end of the season initially but if things go well over the next few weeks I’d be hopeful he’ll be here longer.

“I think he’s another player that our supporters will enjoy watching.”

It’s a new challenge for 24 year-old Akintunde who has spent his career in England with Cambridge United, Chester and Maidenhead as well as loan spells with various clubs in the lower leagues.

His best form came when at Chester where he scored 11 times in 60 appearances before joining Maidenhead, scoring twice in 57 games playing predominately on the right wing.

He’s enjoyed getting to know his new teammates during his recent trial period at Brandywell and hopes Derry can get the best out of him during the remainder of the truncated SSE Airtricity League campaign.

“I’ve been playing in England my whole life. I mean I’ve been playing from a young age in the Conference so this is something I’m looking forward to.

“My biggest highlight so far was making my Football League debut for Cambridge United. I really enjoyed my first year there and obviously managers come and go and the one that brought me there was sacked. The guy who came in didn’t like me and so I went to Chester.

“I got a bad knee injury at the start of the season and missed most of that first season but I did well and scored a good few goals for them.

“Last year I was at Maidenhead with a great bunch of lads but we didn’t really gel as a team. As I said, I’ve played in England all my career so it’s a good challenge to play in a different country.

“My agent told me about Derry and I went and trained for a week and had a match with the boys and I liked it.

“The staff were great and I settled in well with the boys. So I’m looking forward to getting started.

“The boys are all raring to go. Even in training it’s like proper matches. Training is so competitive and I’ve had a good lead up to Friday’s game so I’m excited to play my first match.

“It’s been last March since I actually played a match so it’s a long time and I’m just excited to get out there again.

“There’s only 14 games to go so I have 14 games to make an impression and express myself. Hopefully Derry will see the best of me.”