Zak Ansah

Zak Andy Ansah (born 4 May 1994) is an English-born Ghanaian semi professional footballer who plays for Herne Bay.

Zak Ansah
Personal information
Full name Zak Andy Ansah[1]
Date of birth (1994-05-04) 4 May 1994[2]
Place of birth Sidcup, England
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Club information
Current team
 Herne Bay
Youth career
2004–2011 Arsenal
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2014 Arsenal 0 (0)
2014–2016 Charlton Athletic 0 (0)
2015 → Plymouth Argyle (loan) 8 (1)
2015 → Newport County (loan) 13 (2)
2016–2017 Woking 11 (1)
2018–2019 Hythe Town 56 (46)
2019– Herne Bay 34 (27)
National team‡
2009 England U16 4 (3)
2011 England U17 3 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:33, 2 November 2020 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:10, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Club career

Arsenal

Ansah, the son of former Southend United player Andy Ansah,[3] had spells with Sydenham Sports club and Charlton Athletic before joining the academy at Arsenal at the age of 10, who beat off interest from several other London-based clubs including Tottenham Hotspur and AFC Wimbledon.[4] Ansah made his way through the club's youth system, making his debut for their under-18 side at the age of just 14 and later impressing in the NextGen Series youth competition.[5]

On 4 December 2012, with Arsenal already qualified for the next round of the competition, Ansah was named as a substitute for the club's Champions League group stage match against Olympiacos but remained on the bench during a 2–1 defeat.[6] He suffered a tear of his ACL in July 2013 that ruled him out for eight months, the second time he had suffered the injury, but returned to the development squad in March 2014, scoring in a 5–3 win over West Ham United.[7] At the end of the 2013–14 season, Ansah was released by Arsenal without making a first-team appearance.

Charlton Athletic

Ansah subsequently joined Football League Championship side Charlton Athletic on a two-year deal, working with under-21 development manager Jason Euell.[8] In March 2015, he joined Football League Two side Plymouth Argyle until the end of the 2014–15 season,[9] scoring on his debut for the club, the third goal in a 3–0 win over Cheltenham Town.[10] He then scored Plymouth Argyle's first goal of their League 2 Play-off tie with Wycombe Wanderers at Home Park, his goal making the scoreline 3–1 in Wycombe's favour at the time.[11] He made a total of 10 appearances for the club, scoring twice.

In August 2015, Ansah returned to League Two, joining Newport County on an initial one-month loan deal,[12] making his debut in a 3–2 defeat to Leyton Orient.[13] At the end of that loan period he returned to Charlton before rejoining Newport County for a second loan on 9 October 2015. On 24 October 2015 he scored his first two goals for Newport in a 4–1 win over Bristol Rovers. He returned to Charlton when his loan ended on 12 December 2015.

Woking

On 3 August 2016, Ansah joined Surrey-based side Woking for the 2016–17 National League season.[14] Three days later, Ansah made his Woking debut in a 3–1 home defeat against Lincoln City, playing the full 90 minutes.[15] On 9 August 2016, Ansah scored his first Woking goal in a 2–2 draw with Solihull Moors, netting Woking's second.[16] After suffering a long-term knee injury in October 2016,[17] Ansah was forced out of the Woking team until March 2017. Returning in the Cards' 2–1 defeat against North Ferriby United, replacing Ismail Yakubu in the 73rd minute.[18]

On 23 May 2017, it was announced that Ansah would leave Woking upon the expiry of his current deal in June 2017.[19]

Hythe Town

Following his release from Woking, Ansah had a spell in Sunday league football, before joining Isthmian League Division One South side, Hythe Town.[20] He went onto score twice on his Hythe debut during their league tie against East Grinstead Town, which resulted in a 3–2 victory.[21] By March 2018, Ansah registered his tenth and eleventh goals of the season in the space of three months, inspiring a two-goal comeback against Whyteleafe.[22] Following the conclusion of the 2017–18 campaign, Ansah registered his tally to 20 goals, after netting thirteen times in ten consecutive games.[23]

On 6 June 2018, Ansah agreed a new one-year deal with Hythe.[24]

Herne Bay

Despite interest from Football League and National League sides, Ansah opted to join fellow Isthmian League side, Herne Bay.[25]

International career

Ansah has represented England at both Under-16 and Under-17 level. In 2012, at the age of 18, Ansah was called up to the Ghana under-20 side for the first time but both Ansah and his father Andy blasted the Ghana Football Association stating that they had not been notified of the call-up and had discovered it after a family friend had messaged to congratulate him.[26] Ansah later committed his international future to Ghana and,[7] the following year, he was called up to the provisional under-20 training squad to train with a view to being included in the squad for the 2013 FIFA U-20 World Cup but was later omitted from the final squad.[27]

Career statistics
As of 31 October 2020.[28]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Charlton Athletic 2014–15 Championship 0000000000
2015–16 Championship 0000000000
Total0000000000
Plymouth Argyle (loan) 2014–15 League Two 8100002[lower-alpha 1]1102
Newport County (loan) 2015–16 League Two 13220001[lower-alpha 1]0162
Woking 2016–17 National League 11100—00111
Hythe Town 2017–18 Isthmian League Division One South 1920———1920
2018–19 Isthmian League South East Division 362622—4[lower-alpha 2]34231
Total554622—436151
Herne Bay 2019–20[29] Isthmian League South East Division 282433—5[lower-alpha 3]13728
2020–21[30] Isthmian League South East Division 6310—2[lower-alpha 4]194
Total342743—724632
Total 12178850014614488
  1. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  2. Two appearances and two goals in Alan Turvey Trophy, two appearances and one goal in FA Trophy
  3. Four appearances and one goal in Alan Turvey Trophy, one appearance in FA Trophy
  4. Appearance(s) in FA Trophy

References
  1. "The Football League Retained List". The Football League. 12 June 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  2. "Zak Ansah". 11v11. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
  3. "Charlton sign Zak Ansah". Charlton Athletic F.C. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  4. "Young guns:Zak Ansah". Arsenal F.C. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  5. "Zak Ansah joins Charlton Athletic". Arsenal F.C. 9 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  6. "Olympiacos 2–1 Arsenal". BBC Sport. 4 December 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  7. "Arsenal's Ghanaian super-kid scores first goal eight months after ACL tear". HITC Sport. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  8. "Charlton Athletic sign former Arsenal youngster Zak Ansah". BBC Sport. 7 June 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  9. "Zak Ansah: Plymouth Argyle boss hails debutant goalscorer". BBC Sport. 30 March 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  10. "Cheltenham 0 Plymouth 3". BBC. 2015-03-28.
  11. "Plymouth Argyle 2–3 Wycombe Wanderers: Late goals keep tie alive". SkySports. 2015-05-09.
  12. "Newport County sign Charlton Athletic striker on loan". BBC Sport. 20 August 2015. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  13. "Newport2-3 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. 22 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  14. "Woking sign ex-Charlton striker Zak Ansah and Nathan Ralph". BBC Sport. 3 August 2016. Retrieved 3 August 2016.
  15. "Woking 1–3 Lincoln City". BBC Sport. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  16. "Solihull Moors 2–2 Woking". BBC Sport. 9 August 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  17. "Garry Hill upbeat despite Woking FC's injury concerns". Get Surrey. 20 October 2016. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  18. "North Ferriby United 2-1 Woking". BBC Sport. 4 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  19. "Released Players". Woking Official Site. 23 May 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  20. "Hythe Town sign midfielder Chris Kinnear and striker Zak Ansah". Kent Online. 10 January 2018. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  21. "Fixtures & Results 2017/2018". Hythe Town Official Site. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  22. "Two late Ansah goals complete Hythe fightback..." Hythe Town Official Site. 24 March 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
  23. "Fixtures and Results". Football Web Pages. Retrieved 1 May 2018.
  24. "Hythe Town FC on Twitter". Hythe Town Twitter. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
  25. "Exciting News". Herne Bay F.C. 11 July 2019. Retrieved 13 July 2019.
  26. "Zak Ansah's dad blasts 'unorganized' Ghana FA over U-20 call up". Ghana Soccernet. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  27. "Arsenal Starlet Zak Ansah Snubbed By Ghana U-20". Ghana Soccernet. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  28. "Zak Ansah". Soccer Base. Centurycomm Limited. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
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