Sam Adekugbe

Transferred to Valerenga on Jan. 8, 2018.

PRONUNCIATION: ADD-ah-KOO-bee

A two-way defender, the Homegrown fullback spent the second half of 2016 on loan with Brighton & Hove Albion in the English Championship, which is where he'll begin 2017. He scored his first professional goal in a League Cup victory over Oxford United.

INTERNATIONAL: Adekugbe made his debut for the Canadian national team in a World Cup qualifier against Belize on Sept. 8, 2015. He previously represented the Canadians at the CONCACAF U-20 Championship in 2015, and entered the youth ranks for his country in 2012.

NOTES: Born in London, England, Adekugbe grew up in Manchester until his family moved to Calgary, Alberta when he was nine...won the 2015 Amway Canadian Championship with the Whitecaps, the club's first Voyageur's Cup.