Paul Asiedu Osew (born 25 November 2000) is an 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

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Osew is a product of the

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional association football club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton, London. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in ...

academies An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and played in the

English Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for the latter club between 2019 and 2023. Following a short spell with

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

and a period as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, he dropped into

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

in December 2023.

Career

Early years

Osew began his youth career with spells as Chelsea Kicks and in the Evolution Sports & Health Academy. Following a rejection by Chelsea Academy for being "too small", he joined the Brentford academy at the age of 11. At age 15, Osew signed a scholarship deal with

, after previously being a part of the club's Foundation's College Education programme. During his time in the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

, he was converted from a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

to a

. During the first month of the 2017–18 season, Osew played the first senior matches of his career for

Combined Counties League The Combined Counties Football League is a regional men's football league in south-eastern England with members in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Middlesex, Oxfordshire, Surrey, and the western half of Greater Lond ...

First Division club Raynes Park Vale, on an ad-hoc basis.

AFC Wimbledon

After progressing into AFC Wimbledon's U23 team during the 2018–19 season, Osew signed his first professional contract with the League One club in April 2019. He was a regular inclusion in the first team squad during the truncated 2019–20 season and by the time his season was ended by a

stress fracture A stress fracture is a fatigue-induced bone fracture caused by repeated stress over time. Instead of resulting from a single severe impact, stress fractures are the result of accumulated injury from repeated submaximal loading, such as running ...

to his

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

in March 2020, he had made 23 appearances and scored one goal. On 8 January 2020, Osew signed a contract extension and made 14 appearances during the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season, scoring one goal. He improved his tally to 32 appearances during the 2021–22 season, which culminated in relegation to League Two. Osew proved his versatility as a

utility player In sports, a utility player is one who can play several positions competently. Sports in which the term is often used include association football, basketball, American football, baseball, rugby union, rugby league, softball, ice hockey, and water ...

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

during the season and scored one goal, with the only goal of an

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

first round win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on 10 August 2022. Osew was offered a new two-year contract in May 2022, but delayed signing it until 21 August 2022, due to a need to recover from injury. He returned to match play six days later and following six appearances, he was sidelined for two months with an ankle injury. Osew failed to appear again before agreeing a mutual termination of his contract on 1 February 2023. He made 76 appearances and scored three goals during years as a professional with the club.

Northampton Town

Following a period training with the Chelsea Development Squad, Osew transferred to League Two club

on 10 March 2023 and signed a contract running until the end of the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

season. He made four appearances during the remainder of the club's promotion-winning season and was released when his contract expired.

Woking

On 8 December 2023, Osew joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

club

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

on a contract running until the end of the 2023–24 season. He made six appearances during the remainder of the season, scoring one goal, which came with the winner on his league debut, in a 2–1 victory over

Dorking Wanderers Dorking Wanderers Football Club is a professional football club based in Dorking, Surrey, England. Affiliated to the Surrey County Football Association, they are currently members of and play at Meadowbank. Formed in 1999 by a group of friends ...

on 16 December. Osew departed the

Kingfield Stadium Kingfield Stadium, currently known as The Laithwaite Community Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a Association football, football stadium in the Kingfield area of Woking, Surrey, and is the home of Woking F.C., Woking Football Club which has a ...

when his contract expired.

Welling United

Following trials with clubs in Germany and Belgium, Osew signed signed an undisclosed-length contract with

National League South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National League (English football), National Leagues and step ...

club

Welling United Welling United Football Club is a semi-professional association football club, based in Welling in the London Borough of Bexley, England. The most prominent aspect of the club is its men's first team, who play in the , the seventh level of the E ...

on 27 September 2024. After making 9 appearances, he was made available for transfer on 9 December.

Personal life

Born in England, Osew is of Ghanaian descent. He attended Sudbourne Primary School,

Brixton Brixton is an area of South London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Brixton experienced a rapid rise in population during the 19th century ...

and Southfields Academy,

Southfields Southfields is a district of inner London located within the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, 5.6 miles (9 km) south-west of Charing Cross, with a small portion of the area extending into the neighbouring London Borough of Merton. So ...

. Osew is a

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

and as of February 2022, was playing in church on Sundays. In March 2022, he became an ambassador for the AFC Wimbledon Education Hub at

Plough Lane Plough Lane, currently known as the Cherry Red Records Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose football stadium in Wimbledon, south-west London, which has been the home of AFC Wimbledon since 3 November 2020. A groundshare with rug ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Osew, Paul Living people English men's footballers English people of Ghanaian descent Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent Men's association football fullbacks AFC Wimbledon players English Football League players Black British sportsmen 2000 births Footballers from the London Borough of Wandsworth People from Wandsworth English drummers Raynes Park Vale F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Woking F.C. players Welling United F.C. players National League (English football) players 21st-century English sportsmen