Aymen Onyango is the son of former Kenya Rugby 7s star, Lucas Onyango.
The youngster hit the headlines for the better part of the weekend after being unveiled as the new signing of Manchester City.
Aymen joined the premier league club’s academy after signing for the Under 9s.
Here is his story as told by WoK.
Lucas Onyango played as a winger for the Kenya 7s rugby team, Shujaa, before he switched his allegiance to England in 2002.
The former player who now holds a master’s degree in sports science explained that he switched countries due to lac of opportunities locally.
“I left home because the opportunities were not there. We came for the Commonwealth Games, we knew we were good enough but the environment back home was not conducive for us to make it,” he said.
Following his retirement from rugby, he introduced his sons, Aymen Onyango and Yakubu Onyango to the sport and he would take them to training.
However, his wife, Zeena, noticed that Aymen was more into football than rugby and asked him to let the little kid try football.
“I always wanted him to play rugby as usual; him and his brother always played rugby since they were babies,” Onyango said in an interview with Citizen TV.
He added;
“So one day Zeena comes to me and says why don’t you let Aymen play football? I said OK, as long as you the one who will take him for training on Sundays.”
A while later, Onyango realized his son’s love for football and took over taking him for training sessions and tournaments.
He mentioned that they tried different academies within the UK before settling on Manchester City which offered the best deal.
“City is one of the best academies right now. We were at Liverpool, we were at United (Manchester) and every academy has its positives and negatives
“But I always believe with sports, it is a matter of where the child is comfortable, and Aymen was comfortable at City and that’s how we let it be,” Onyango added.
Onyango further mentioned that his son’s favourite player is Phil Foden who grew up in Manchester and went through the academy.
“His favourite player is Phil Foden because he is a local boy who used to live right next to where my warehouse is at in Manchester. He loves Foden because he sees himself going through that,” he said.
He expressed confidence that his son will succeed at City.
“Aymen is one person who is never scared of working hard. I have seen him come from rugby to football when he was five years old
“This journey started three years ago, and it is just now when he signed for Man City that we let Kenyans and the world know because it will motivate other kids back at home,” he said.
Onyango also noted that he has seen some growth in his son’s game ever since he joined the academy.
“They get the best training. They have played Arenal, Chelsea, all the other teams and they have beaten them all
“They have a very good set up and the kids are well taken care of, and that’s the most important thing,” he added.
