Zak Ansah

Zak Ansah
Personal information
Full name Zak Andy Ansah[1]
Date of birth (1994-05-04) 4 May 1994[2]
Place of birth Sidcup, England
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)[2]
Playing position Striker
Club information
Current team
 Woking
Number 10
Youth career
2004–2011 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Arsenal 0 (0)
2014–2016 Charlton Athletic 0 (0)
2015 → Plymouth Argyle (loan) 8 (1)
2015 → Newport County (loan) 13 (2)
2016– Woking 9 (1)
National team‡
2009 England U16 4 (3)
2011 England U17 3 (1)
2013–2014 Ghana U20

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 September 2016 (UTC).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:10, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Zak Andy Ansah (born 4 May 1994) is an English-born Ghanaian professional footballer who plays for Woking as a striker.

Club career

Arsenal

Ansah, the son of former Southend United player Andy Ansah,[3] had spells with Sydenham Sports club and Charlton Athletic before joining the academy at Arsenal at the age of 10, who beat off interest from several other London-based clubs including Tottenham Hotspur and AFC Wimbledon.[4] Ansah made his way through the clubs youth system, making his debut for their under-18 side at the age of just 14 and later impressing in the NextGen Series youth competition.[5][6]

On 4 December 2012, with Arsenal already qualified for the next round of the competition, Ansah was named as a substitute for the clubs Champions League group stage match against Olympiacos but remained on the bench during a 2–1 defeat.[7] He suffered a tear of his ACL in July 2013 that ruled him out for eight months, the second time he had suffered the injury, but returned to the development squad in March 2014, scoring in a 5–3 win over West Ham United.[8] At the end of the 2013–14 season, Ansah was released by Arsenal without making a first-team appearance.

Charlton Athletic

Ansah subsequently joined Football League Championship side Charlton Athletic on a two-year deal, working with under-21 development manager Jason Euell.[9] In March 2015, he joined Football League Two side Plymouth Argyle until the end of the 2014–15 season,[10] scoring on his debut for the club, the third goal in a 3–0 win over Cheltenham Town.[11] He then scored Plymouth Argyle's first goal of their League 2 Play-off tie with Wycombe Wanderers at Home Park, his goal making the scoreline 3–1 in Wycombe's favour at the time.[12] He made a total of 10 appearances for the club, scoring twice.

In August 2015, Ansah returned to League Two, joining Newport County on an initial one-month loan deal,[13] making his debut in a 3–2 defeat to Leyton Orient.[14] At the end of that loan period he returned to Charlton before rejoining Newport County for a second loan on 9 October 2015. On 24 October 2015 he scored his first two goals for Newport in a 4–1 win over Bristol Rovers. He returned to Charlton when his loan ended on 12 December 2015.

Woking

On 3 August 2016, Ansah joined Surrey based side Woking for the 2016–17 National League season.[15] Three days later, Ansah made his Woking debut in a 3–1 home defeat against Lincoln City, playing the full 90 minutes.[16] On 9 August 2016, Ansah scored his first Woking goal in a 2–2 draw with Solihull Moors, netting Woking's second.[17]

International career

Ansah has represented England at both Under-16 and Under-17 level. In 2012, at the age of 18, Ansah was called up to the Ghana under-20 side for the first time but both Ansah and his father Andy blasted the Ghana Football Association stating that they had not been notified of the call-up and had discovered it after a family friend had messaged to congratulate him.[18] Ansah later committed his international future to Ghana and,[8] the following year, he was called up to the provisional under-20 training squad to train with a view to being included in the squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup but was later omitted from the final squad.[19]

Career statistics

As of 24 September 2016.[20]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Charlton Athletic 2014–15 Championship 0000000000
2015–16 Championship 0000000000
Charlton Athletic total0000000000
Plymouth Argyle (loan) 2014–15 League Two 81000021102
Newport County (loan) 2015–16 League Two 132200010162
Woking 2016–17 National League 9100—0091
Total 304200031355

References

  1. ↑ "The Football League Retained List". The Football League. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  2. 1 2 "Zak Ansah". 11v11. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  3. ↑ "Charlton sign Zak Ansah". Charlton Athletic F.C. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  4. ↑ "Young guns:Zak Ansah". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  5. ↑ "Zak Ansah joins Charlton Athletic". Arsenal F.C. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  6. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Is Zak the Ansah for Arsenal? Step-over kid's skills are 'Unbelievable Tekkers'... Just ask his dad". Daily Mail. 28 March 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  7. ↑ "Olympiacos 2–1 Arsenal". BBC Sport. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  8. 1 2 "Arsenal's Ghanaian super-kid scores first goal eight months after ACL tear". HITC Sport. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  9. ↑ "Charlton Athletic sign former Arsenal youngster Zak Ansah". BBC Sport. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "Zak Ansah: Plymouth Argyle boss hails debutant goalscorer". BBC Sport. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  11. ↑ "Cheltenham 0 Plymouth 3". BBC. 2015-03-28.
  12. ↑ "Plymouth Argyle 2–3 Wycombe Wanderers: Late goals keep tie alive". SkySports. 2015-05-09.
  13. ↑ "Newport County sign Charlton Athletic striker on loan". BBC Sport. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  14. ↑ "Newport2-3 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  15. ↑ "Woking sign ex-Charlton striker Zak Ansah and Nathan Ralph". BBC Sport. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Woking 1–3 Lincoln City". BBC Sport. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  17. ↑ "Solihull Moors 2–2 Woking". BBC Sport. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  18. ↑ "Zak Ansah's dad blasts 'unorganized' Ghana FA over U-20 call up". Ghana Soccernet. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Arsenal Starlet Zak Ansah Snubbed By Ghana U-20". Ghana Soccernet. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "Zak Ansah". Soccer Base. Centurycomm Limited. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
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