Richmond Mamah Laryea ( ; Ga: ; born January 7, 1995) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a right-back or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Major League Soccer club

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

, on loan from

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, and the Canada national team.

College career

Prior to his college career, Laryea played for Sigma FC Academy and

Dante Alighieri Academy Dante Alighieri Academy (Dante Alighieri, DAA, or Dante, official name: Dante Alighieri Catholic Academy) also known as Dante Alighieri Academy Catholic Secondary School is a Catholic public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Administered by ...

in Toronto. Laryea played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

at the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classifie ...

for two seasons, reaching the College Cup semi-finals in 2015. Laryea was named to the All-

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great L ...

Second Team in 2014, and was named to the All-Mid-American Conference First Team in 2015. He played for

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

club Sigma FC in 2015, where he was named a League All-Star. Following his sophomore season, Laryea signed a contract with Generation Adidas.

Club career

Orlando City

Laryea was drafted in the first round (7th overall) of the

2016 MLS SuperDraft The 2016 MLS SuperDraft was the seventeenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2016 convention was held in B ...

by Orlando City. He was loaned to

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...

in March 2016. After spending the first half of his second season once again on loan to OCB playing as both an attacking and defensive midfielder, Laryea made his MLS debut on June 25, 2017, subbing on for Kaká in a 4–0 defeat to Chicago Fire. Laryea got his first MLS assist on September 27, 2017, assisting on

Yoshimar Yotún Víctor Yoshimar Yotún Flores (; born 7 April 1990) is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays for Peruvian Primera División club Sporting Cristal and the Peru national team. He can play as a left back, left winger, or defensive midfie ...

's goal against

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

. He made his first career MLS start on the final day of the season away to Philadelphia Union. On November 27, 2018, the club announced they had declined his contract option.

Toronto FC

On March 21, 2019, Laryea signed for MLS side

. Laryea scored his first goal for Toronto on May 26, 2019, in a 2–1 home defeat to the San Jose Earthquakes, was also his first MLS goal. Laryea scored his first playoff goal, against DC United, and then defeated

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

to win the

Eastern Conference (MLS) The Eastern Conference is one of Major League Soccer's two conferences, along with the Western Conference. As of 2023, the Eastern Conference contains fifteen teams. The conference has produced sixteen Supporters' Shield champions and ten ...

playoffs. Laryea and

then lost to Seattle Sounders FC in the

2019 MLS Cup MLS Cup 2019 was the 24th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), and took place on November 10, 2019, at CenturyLink Field in Seattle, Washington, United States. The soccer match was contested by Seattl ...

final. Laryea would have his option for the 2020 season exercised by Toronto, keeping him with the club for 2020. On September 27, 2020, Laryea scored a solo goal and provided two assists in the second half of Toronto's 3–1 win against the league-leading

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. Laryea was named the MLS Player of the Week as a result of his performance.

Nottingham Forest

On January 8, 2022, EFL Championship club

signed Laryea on a transfer from Toronto FC, signing a three-and-a-half year contract. After featuring only sparingly in Forest's matchday squads during his first few months, Laryea made his debut on April 18 against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, as a second-half substitute for Djed Spence in an eventual 4-0 victory. In August 2022, he returned on loan to Toronto FC until the end of June 2023. To complete the transaction, Toronto sent $225,000 in General Allocation Money to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

and $125,000 in General Allocation Money to

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

to acquire the top spot in the MLS Allocation Order.

International career

In May 2016, Laryea was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against Guyana and Grenada. Laryea scored in the opening match against Guyana. Laryea received his first call up to the senior team on August 26, 2019, for two

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

matches against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. He made his debut in the first match on September 7, 2019. On March 25, 2021, Laryea scored his first goal for Canada in a 5–1 win over

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

in the team's first 2022 World Cup qualifying match. In June 2021, Laryea was named to Canada's 60-man preliminary squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

. On July 1, he was named to the final 23-man squad. In November 2022, Laryea was called up to the squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Personal life

Laryea is of Ghanaian descent. His younger brother, Reggie Laryea, plays soccer for semi-professional team

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of March 25, 2021. Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Laryea goal.''

Honours

Toronto FC * Eastern Conference Championship (Playoffs):

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Nottingham Forest * EFL Championship play-offs:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Laryea, Richie Living people 1995 births Canadian people of Ghanaian descent Canadian soccer players Soccer players from Toronto Association football midfielders Association football fullbacks Canada men's international soccer players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Sigma FC players Akron Zips men's soccer players Orlando City SC players Orlando City B players Toronto FC players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Orlando City SC draft picks League1 Ontario players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England