Afobe says he wasn't given chance at Arsenal before being sold to Wolves

Benik Afobe is finally getting his chance in the

There are photographs in the Afobe family home that offer a miniature view of what Arsenal are missing and what might have been.

A pair of little boys in red shirts had been destroying all comers in the junior leagues before learning 12 years apart that they weren’t quite going to make the grade.

Those nine-year-old boys grew into Benik Afobe and Harry Kane, two big men with 94 goals split almost evenly between them in the past season and a half.

Benik Afobe, who is preparing to face his former club Arsenal on Sunday, poses for a picture at his home

Afobe has scored three goals in four Premier League games for new club Bournemouth

Afobe (top) played alongside Tottenham hitman Harry Kane (bottom) for Arsenal Under 9s

Afobe revealed that he and Kane used to score bundles of goals for the Arsenal youth team

'I’ve got pictures of us from Arsenal,’ Afobe says. ‘He was so small at the time, a bit of a late developer, but he’s always loved scoring. The scores used to be 17-15 and stuff – we just knew we’d score in every game.

‘But it’s weird because he used to play in goal sometimes, and wasn’t bad actually. You wouldn’t think it – remember that goal he let in for Tottenham a couple of years ago (against Asteras Tripolis in the Europa League) when he had to play in goal.’

Afobe laughs but it’s been a hard slog to this point, both for him and Kane. Kane left Arsenal at 10, got sent around the houses as loan export out of Tottenham and with time bloomed into a remarkable striker. Afobe, by contrast, survived at Arsenal until last year when he was sold to Wolves with six loan spells on his CV but not a single senior appearance.

How Arsenal could use one or both of them now. Arsene Wenger’s side visit Bournemouth on Sunday with no goals scored in three league games and face a 22-year-old striker who has netted three in four following his £12m January move. ‘Looking forward to it,’ he says.

Afobe was sent out on loan to several club and admits his rise to the Premier League has been hard

Bournemouth splashed £10m on Afobe in the January transfer window and he has hit the ground running

The striker has already started to repay that fee and scored the winner against Crystal Palace this week

Afobe started to show real promise during a loan spell at MK Dons during the 2014-15 season

BENIK AFOBE CAREER Arsenal (2010-2015) 0 apps 0 goals Huddersfield, loan (2010-11) 35 apps 8 goals Reading, loan (2011-12) 3 apps 0 goals Bolton, loan (2012-13) 23 apps 3 goals Millwall, loan (2012-13) 5 apps 0 goals Sheff Wed, loan (2013-14) 13 apps 2 goals MK Dons, loan (2014-15) 21 apps 13 goals Wolves (2015-16) 27 apps 10 goals Bournemouth (2016-) 4 apps 3 goals Advertisement

But this is no grudge match. Afobe does not think he got a ‘fair chance’ at Arsenal; he also has nothing but kind words to say about the people who made the decisions to keep him in the shade. Those decisions to send him zig-zagging to hotels in Huddersfield, Reading, Bolton, Millwall, Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons shaped the mind that is determined to build a Premier League legacy.

‘It has been hard but I wouldn’t change it for the world,’ he says.

‘Everyone has their own destiny – mine was to go on loan, have a few injuries. When I was younger I had doubts, like “What if I can’t do this?” But going out on loan, being unsuccessful, living in different parts of England has helped me a lot. I think my mental strength came from that and is now my biggest attribute. I wouldn’t have had that if I broke through at Arsenal at 18.’

Afobe says moving between clubs in lower leagues has provided him with the mental strength he has now

Afobe pictured in action for Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup in 2009, but he never played for the first team

Arsenal sold Afobe to Wolves in January 2015, where he went on to score 22 league goals 46 games

How Afobe turned his career around

The toughest point, and indeed the turning point, came at Sheffield Wednesday, loan number five of six. After four seasons at four temporary stops, a regular in all of England’s age grade sides reached the end of another disappointing campaign and needed to reassess where his career was headed.

‘It got to me a lot,’ he says. ‘I’d always dreamed of scoring goals at the highest level, obsessed with it, and I started to think, “Will I ever get this chance?”

‘The penny dropped in the final game of the season. I was telling my mates, “Yeah we’re going on holiday”, and then I thought, “You know what, if you don’t buck your ideas up you’re going to be a what-could-have-been kind of player”.

‘I started eating more healthily, sleeping better, and said I was going to start from scratch. Forget the injuries and loans - just remember how much you enjoy it, because I’d stopped enjoying my football.’

Afobe turned his career around after cancelling plans to go on holiday after a loan at Sheffield Wednesday

Afobe, pictured after his move to Wolves, does not believe he was given a fair chance at Arsenal

His holiday to New York was scrapped and the big revival came at MK Dons, down in League One but managed by Karl Robinson who ‘understands young players’. Dele Alli became ‘like a brother’.

He says: ‘It was nice to see an 18-year-old like Dele playing with such a smile on his face. I think we had eight different celebrations planned before the games because we knew one of us was going to score.

‘I love it when Dele scores now for Spurs, or Harry scores. I’m texting them, telling my mum and dad about it. I feel like a proud brother.’

Afobe scored 19 goals in 18 starts in his half season at MK Dons before a call from Arsenal to say he had been sold to Wolves for £2m. He had been there since the age of six, is best friends with Jack Wilshere and every goal at MK Dons was scored with the aim of ‘getting back to Arsenal’. But time was up.

‘I don’t hold any grudges, I love them,’ he says. ‘But, to be honest, I don’t think I got a fair chance in the first team. There have been players who, to be honest, haven’t had great Arsenal careers who have played five or 10 games but that is a story for another day.’

Afobe (right) celebrates with Dele Alli in August 2014 during the pair's time together at MK Dons

Afobe says he is pleased to see former team-mate Alli (right) thriving for Tottenham this season

He adds: ‘I went to Wolves and wanted to repay their faith. I remember my agent saying to me, “If you are here more than two years you have done something wrong in your career. You are good enough to get to where you want to be”.’

With a regular starting spot, Afobe scored 13 goals for Wolves in the second half of last season – his overall tally of 32 for the 2014/15 campaign placed him ahead of Kane as the top English scorer across the four divisions – and 10 more this term drew a call from Eddie Howe. The lure to work with one of the brightest managers in the country was ‘huge’.

‘I’m in the Premier League,’ Afobe says. ‘I love it.’