Yakubu turns out for Boreham Wood as club let seven trialists go

BOREHAM WOOD had former Premier League striker Yakubu in their team on Saturday but boss Luke Garrard has confirmed the release of seven other trialists.

Yakubu, who has played for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Leicester and Reading, most recently turned out for Turkish outfit Kayserispor.

The 33-year-old, a scorer of 96 Premier League goals, played 60 minutes for the Wood in their 5-0 friendly defeat to Championship outfit Reading.

The ex-Nigeria international, who has 57 caps and 21 goals for his country, reportedly lives in the Boreham Wood area but Garrard doesn’t think a permanent deal is likely.

“Realistically I think he has offers and ambitions to play at the highest level available,” the boss told the Borehamwood and Elstree Times. “I’ll never say never.

“In terms of today it was just nice to get him involved. He is of a certain level and he is a model pro.”

Garrard has, however, confirmed that trialists Sam Hatton, Ashan Holgate, Charlie Strutton, Paul White, Jordan Gibbons, Jaydon Gibbs and Luis Morrison have all been let go.

“The players have all been an absolute pleasure to have around the club, they have all trained very hard and they have all shown a fantastic attitude,” he said.

“We have made these decisions early and in fairness, so that the players have enough time to find themselves a club and to get things settled and sorted, before the season starts in around a month’s time.”