Being told that a team is interested in signing you is an exciting thing for any player, especially if you’re a talented young footballer without a club, and looking for your next challenge. When that club is an exciting project, playing its inaugural season in an upstart league with a growing reputation for developing players, you jump at the opportunity to join them.

That’s exactly what Vancouver FC duo Ibrahim Bakare and Nicky Gyimah experienced this winter. Defender Bakare had bounced around a few clubs in the English lower divisions after leaving the Cardiff City youth setup last year, while attacker Gyimah was on the books at Sunderland before joining Slough Town in the National League South, but not making an appearance. Both players needed a fresh start, and Vancouver FC head coach Afshin Ghotbi offered that to them.

“It’s been vital because I’ve never really been on long contracts, or I’ve just been bouncing about places to just train and play game time while I get back into the professional environment,” Bakare said to CanPL.ca. “Now I’m back in a professional environment, it’s just my job to keep here and show a league what I’m able to do and really get as many games under my belt, show my level, and prove the point to everyone that’s watching and prove a point to the world that Ibrahim Bakare is Ibrahim Bakare.”

“During the summer I made it known that I was leaving Sunderland and I was in search for first-team football,” Gyimah added. “Afshin reached out to my agents and they proposed the idea to me, and after speaking to the gaffer it was a no-brainer, I had to come to Vancouver and be part of the success story that’s going to happen.”

Bakare and Gyimah are roommates in Langley, and neither one of them is unfamiliar with the idea of living away from home. While not as far from home as Vancouver, Cardiff and Sunderland are still quite a distance from London. 

The duo both believe that living with a familiar face – having known each other to some extent back in England – and someone in a similar situation as them, has been mutually beneficial for acclimatizing to their new surroundings.

“I’m used to living by myself and just living in my own space and whatnot, but [it’s a] completely different country and a completely different continent — and the time zones are completely different,” said Bakare. “That’s where it gets a bit difficult, but at the end of the day I’m in an English-speaking country and everyone around here speaks the same language as me. It’s quite diverse in itself, so I don’t feel away from home too much.”

“We kind of knew each other beforehand. So now that I’m not alone by myself, it makes things easier, we can speak about the same things, we can relate to the same things, we eat the same food, we go out when we need to. It’s really good, kind of makes you feel like you’re back at home.”

Gyimah echoed the statement from Bakare, saying that living with his compatriot has “been a massive help.” 

“It just makes Canada feel more like home rather than us having to settle in and taking more time to settle in, because we’re around each other all the time,” he added. “We do a lot of things outside of football together as well. When we get on the pitch, we already have that natural chemistry, it’s definitely been really good.”

A few weeks into the season, Bakare has already won over the hearts of the VFC faithful, with his unabashed passion for the community, club, and supporters. Two Team of the Week-worthy performances haven’t gone unnoticed either. 

"We can't afford when things go wrong to curl up and let us go down."

Here's the full passionate interview from @vanfootballclub defender Ibrahim Bakare after his side battled to a 1-1 draw with Cavalry FC in their inaugural home game 🦅#CanPL I 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/5iszIQOOAN

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) May 8, 2023

One province east, there’s another London-raised defender looking to make an impact in his debut CPL campaign, fellow 21-year-old centre-back Udoka Chima. Like Bakare and Gyimah, Chima has come to Canada looking for a fresh start, and Cavalry FC were the team to give him that opportunity.

Chima, who spent a couple of years at the Burnley FC academy before brief stints in Scotland and a handful of clubs in the lower divisions in England, was another player looking for some stability. He too believed that the Canadian Premier League would offer him an opportunity to springboard his career a bit. You’re probably beginning to notice a bit of a theme here.

“There was interest from quite a while back from Cavalry, and I guess my people got in contact,” Chima said to CanPL.ca. “There were a few mutuals in between that recommended me to the gaffer. The day was made for me to come in to see me, and then they liked me and they decided to sign me.

“It’s a growing league and it’s professional football, and the league’s aim is to grow and expand. The players’ aim is to grow in a league to help, in this case, to build the league and also expand their own careers. When two ideologies match, it only makes sense, so this is also a very good platform, good league. There’s also a lot of buzz around this league, and I would like to try to help take this league to higher heights.”

Chima, born in Italy but raised in London, knew Bakare and Gyimah from back home. All three have connections to Onside Football Institute, a talent ID centre in London. They played games there and had a platform to be recognized by interested parties.

“Onside kind of knew I wasn’t attached to a club at the time in England, and they told me about the opportunity,” Bakare said when asked how Vancouver FC found him. “It came at the right moment because I was about to sign for another club, but at that time they couldn’t sort out my work documents to sign at the club. As that happened, Alex, the person at Onside, communicated across that there’s a project that Vancouver has started up. It was pretty much a smooth transition, and that’s how I found out about it.”

That isn’t the only connection between those players, Onside, and the Canadian Premier League, however. 

The first player from this group of young Londoners to come across the pond to the CPL was another rising star in Canada, Malik Owolabi-Belewu of Forge FC. Owolabi-Belewu signed for the Hammers last season, and after a year in which he got an opportunity to get valuable minutes in a professional environment, he told some of his mates back home – including Chima, Bakare, and Gyimah – about the experience and benefits of the league.

One by one, these players wanted a piece of the action, and the chance to play in a league that is on the rise itself. As several players have proven over the first few seasons of the Canadian Premier League’s existence, there are opportunities to get meaningful minutes in a competitive league, and the willingness to move players on to greener pastures.

RELATED READING: ‘I learned quite a lot’: Malik Owolabi-Belewu looking to build on strong debut season

“The league is for sure a stepping stone, so that was one of the things I mentioned to them — if you can play well, take care of business, earn your manager’s trust, do well, and perform — then there’s a bunch of opportunities for the taking, whether that be MLS or going to Europe,” Owolabi-Belewu said to CanPL.ca. 

“That was one thing that I made very clear to them, but I also made it clear that you have to perform, you have to go through the process as well. Me personally when I came, I was in a situation where I didn’t have a club, and they were in a similar situation to me too, so just telling them to come enjoy playing football, enjoy being back at a club first, but then when you can make business happen and make opportunities happen, do that. 

“The league will be able to push you on to a higher level.”

Having spoken with Owolabi-Belewu, who finished his debut campaign in the CPL by lifting the North Star Shield and with a winners medal around his neck, the others were keen to get a crack at the league when the opportunity presented itself. 

“One of my old friends who lived in London, Malik, played in the league last season and he enjoyed it,” said Bakare. “I was seeing a few clips of him and it looked like a very interesting league. It was exciting. I know that the CPL is quite new here, so eventually, with time, it will be as big as the other sports. It’s our job as Vancouver and as the first generation of players in the league to build that fan base and make people interested in football and soccer in Canada.”

For Chima, hearing from Owolabi-Belewu was one of the bigger factors when it came to him signing for Cavalry, who he says had been showing interest for a while. 

“He was kind of a groundbreaker in terms of the Canadian Premier League, so him coming here really helped me in my decision, it really helped me understand the league as well,” Chima added. “There’s more kids from London that now joined the team in Vancouver. I’m familiar with about three or four players in this league and hopefully, I get to see them and play against them.”

Canada is a long way from home. It’s been quite a while since these players went head-to-head on the pitches of the English capital, looking to impress against each other in search of a professional opportunity. 

Now that they’ve all taken that step into the pro game, the next journey is underway, one that all four players hope will culminate the same way it did for Owolabi-Belewu last season – as Canadian Premier League champions.