Richmond Boakye


Richmond Yiadom Boakye is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Red Star Belgrade and the Ghana national football team.

Club career

Early career

Born in Agogo, Ashanti, Boakye began his career with Bechem United in his native country of Ghana. He eventually moved to Agogo, Asante Akim North District based club, D.C. United and remained until 2008 when he was scouted by Genoa C.F.C. following a tournament in Vicenza, Italy.

Genoa

Following his transfer to Genoa in 2009, Boakye spent the 2009–10 Serie A season, playing in the Campionato Nazionale Primavera for the Ligurian club. On 3 April 2010, Boakye made his Serie A debut, in a match against Livorno. He came off the bench as a substitute for David Suazo in the 13th minute and scored the opening goal, and the match ended in a 1–1 draw. On 2 May, he played in his second match, replacing Giuseppe Sculli as a 71st minute substitute.
On 21 June 2011, Boakye officially joined Serie B outfit Sassuolo on a one-year loan deal that proved very successful for the Ghanaian; he managed to score 12 goals in 34 appearances for the club that missed promotion to Serie A via a promotion play-off loss on aggregate to U.C. Sampdoria.

Juventus

His performances for the Neroverde did not go unnoticed, as the player was eventually signed by reigning Serie A champions Juventus F.C. on a co-ownership deal from Genoa in July 2012. After joining the club, however, he returned to Sassuolo on a second season-long loan deal with the club. Juventus paid nothing in cash but cancelled the transfer debt owed to Genoa with the sale of Ciro Immobile on a similar co-ownership deal in January 2012.
Boakye returned to Juventus on 30 June 2013 but was later loaned to Elche in Spain for the 2013–14 season. He finished the season having scored 6 goals in 31 league appearances for the Spanish club, and returned again to Juventus on 30 June 2014, after the co-ownership with Genoa was renewed just ten days prior.

Atalanta

On 21 July 2014 Genoa sold half of Boakye's 50% registration rights to Atalanta for €1.3 million, with Juventus retained the other half. On 23 June 2015 Atalanta bought Boakye outright from Juventus for €1.6 million.
On 31 August 2015 Boakye left for Dutch club Roda JC.

Latina

In January 2016 Boakye was sold to Latina in a temporary deal, with an obligation to sign outright at the end of season for an undisclosed fee.

Red Star Belgrade

In January 2017 he came on a year-and-a-half loan to a Serbian team Red Star Belgrade. Boakye impressed at Red Star Belgrade with his performances based the time he spent from January to May in the club. He scored an impressive 16 goals in 19 games in all competitions, and won the best player of the week on two occasions within the Serbian Superliga.
The season was marked by fierce rivalry between Red Star and Partizan and the owner of the trophy was decided only in the last round of the championship and ended up in Partizan hands, with Red Star finishing second. Boakye made 18 appearances, spent 1375 minutes in game, and scored 16 goals. He was unable to fight for the league topscorer title as he arrived during winter break and missed the first half of the season. His great performances influenced Ghana national team coach James Kwesi Appiah to ask Boakye to join the Ghana national team as soon as he gets released by Red Star for summer holidays. Boakye also became a free agent on 29 May, after the bankruptcy of Latina.
Red Star Belgrade signed Boakye on 27 June 2017. Boakye started the season with 5 goals in the first 3 games of qualifying matches of the club in 2017–18 UEFA Europa League. He added two more goals in his fifth and sixth games of Europa League qualifying match appearances.
On December 14, 2017, he was elected by the direction board as the Red Star player of the year in 2017. His performances with Red Star attracted the interest of numerous foreign teams in the winter of 2017-18. Chelsea and their coach Antonio Conte had scouted him closely over the course of the 2017-18 winter transfer window.

Jiangsu Suning

On 27 February 2018, Boakye was transferred to Jiangsu Suning for a reported € 5.5 million fee.

Return to Red Star Belgrade

On 31 August 2018, Boakye signed a new 2.5-year contract with an optional one-year extension for Red Star in a €2.5 million transfer, just six months after the transfer to Jiangsu Suning. Boakye contributed to Red Star's 2018-19 UEFA Champions League campaign, as the team qualified to the group stage for the first time after 27 years. After becoming the best foreigner goalscorer in the history of the club, Boakye became the first foreigner to wear a Red Star jersey over two separate terms. On 15 September 2018, he scored a brace against Radnik Surdulica in his first match since returning to Red Star. On 23 September 2018, he scored a header against Partizan in the eternal derby, which ended in a 1-1 tie.

International career

Boakye received an international call-up by the Ghana national team for the friendly match against China at the Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou on 15 August 2012. Boakye scored his first goal for Ghana on his debut, an equaliser in the 80th minute of the match. He also played for Ghana at the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup, winning the bronze medal.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
115 August 2012Shaanxi Province Stadium, Xi'an, China
1–1
1–1
Friendly
210 January 2013Al Nahyan Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
2–0
3–0
Friendly
328 March 2015Stade Océane, Le Havre, France
1–2
1–2
Friendly
41 September 2015Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville, Congo
1–1
3–2
Friendly
51 September 2017Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville, Congo
1–0
5–1
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.1 September 2017Stade Municipal de Kintélé, Brazzaville, Congo5–1
5–1
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

;Red Star Belgrade
;Ghana U20