East Bengal: A look into the career of Welsh forward Aaron Amadi-Holloway

27-year-old Welsh forward Aaron Amadi-Holloway has joined East Bengal this season from Brisbane Roar on a free transfer for the upcoming Indian Super League (ISL) season.

Holloway had last played at Brisbane Roar in the A-League under Robbie Fowler and has followed his coach to India this summer. The forward has represented Wales at the youth level and spent most of his career in various divisions of England. He is the only overseas forward at East Bengal this season so far.

Debut

Aaron Amadi-Holloway joined the youth team of Cardiff City in 2009 and spent three years in their youth system before graduating in 2011. He got his first professional contract from then Championship side Bristol City. But due to lack of game time, he was sent on loan to National League side Bath City in the subsequent season where he finally made his professional debut. At Bath City, Holloway played five matches but did not score any goal.

Experience in England

Amadi-Holloway had spent three seasons at Briston City without playing a single game and had finally left the club in 2013 to join League Two side Newport County.

He has also played for clubs like Wycombe Wanderers, Oldham Athletic, Fleetwood Town and Shrewsbury Town in England. He has played a total of 161 league matches in various divisions in England.

International football

Amadi-Holloway represented Wales at the youth level and was part of the Wales U19 squad which took part in the UEFA U19 Championship qualifiers in 2011 and 2012. He has represented the U19 team in six matches where he has one goal which came during the 2011 qualifying game against Turkey.

Last Stint

The Welsh forward last played for A-League side Brisbane Roar where he played under Robbie Fowler, scoring a goal in 23 appearances. However, 18 of those appearances were off the bench. And the final five of those substitute appearances came under Fowler’s replacement Warren Moon and were fleeting cameos.

“I was only coming on for the final five or six minutes and it was frustrating,” Inman told SBS. “When Robbie was there, he sort of understood the impact I could make off the bench. But I just felt wasted coming on for a handful of minutes when the league resumed.”