Lateef Elford-Alliyu (born 1 June 1992) is a Nigerian-English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a striker and is currently unattached.

Playing career

West Bromwich Albion

'Pan' as he was known to his teammates at West Bromwich Albion was catapulted into the limelight after scoring from the half-way line in a pre-season friendly against Stafford Rangers aged 15. Having made his way through the youth teams at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, he featured regularly for their Under 18 team before joining Hereford United on loan in late January 2010. He made his debut in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for his loan club on 30 January 2010 in a 2–0 defeat to Port Vale, this being his sole appearance for the club. On 24 February 2010 he returned to his parent club after the end of his loan period. After regularly appearing for the Baggies' reserve side, he joined Icelandic top flight side Keflavík Football Club on 14 May 2010 until the middle of June on loan along with fellow

player Kayleden Brown.

Tranmere Rovers

He joined

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

on loan on 25 November 2010. His debut for the club came on 11 December in a 1–2 home defeat to Leyton Orient. His loan period was then extended until 4 January 2011 and then to early February. He scored his first goal for the club on 8 January against Walsall. He scored his first brace of his career in a 2–1 win over Plymouth Argyle on 12 February 2011. After picking up an injury which would keep him out for the rest of the season he returned on 24 March 2011 to his parent club for treatment, ending his loan period. He rejoined Tranmere for a second loan spell in January 2012, for an initial one-month period.

Bury

On 20 February 2012, Elford-Alliyu joined

Football League One The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...

side Bury on loan until the end of the season. Five days later on 25 February 2012, Elford-Alliyu scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw against Leyton Orient. His second goal came on 24 March 2012, in a 1–1 draw against Preston North End. On 16 May 2012, Elford-Alliyu was released by

; the club having decided not to exercise its one-year option on his contract. On 3 July 2012, Elford-Alliyu signed for Bury on a one-year deal. However, Elford-Alliyu made only five appearances and his first team opportunities was limited under new manager Kevin Blackwell, who is Richie Barker successor after he went to manage Crawley Town, which later became his future club.

Crawley Town

After a year at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gi ...

, Elford-Alliyu signed for

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

on a free transfer. He made his debut for the club, coming on as a substitute for Mike Jones, in a FA Cup third round match as Crawley Town lose 3–1 against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

; on 12 January 2013, he made his league debut, coming on as a substitute for Nicky Adams in a 2–0 loss against

Tamworth

On 31 August 2013, Elford-Alliyu signed a one-year deal with

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side Tamworth, following his release from

Coventry City

After spending the 2014–15 season with Maltese side Valletta, Elford-Alliyu signed a four-month contract with Coventry City on 1 September 2015.

International career

He made 9 appearances for the

England national under-17 football team The England national under-17 football team, also known as England under-17s or England U17(s), represents England in association football, football at an under-17 age level and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for fo ...

in 2009 scoring one goal including going to the European championship making two starts and one substitute appearance.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Elford-Alliyu, Lateef 1992 births Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Maltese Premier League players Living people English men's footballers Men's association football forwards West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Knattspyrnudeild Keflavík players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Bury F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Valletta F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Black British sportsmen Nigerian emigrants to the United Kingdom English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland Footballers from Ibadan Nigerian expatriate men's footballers Nigerian men's footballers English expatriates in Iceland England men's youth international footballers English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent 21st-century English sportsmen 21st-century Nigerian sportsmen