Tudor Olorunninbe Mendel-Idowu (born 15 January 2005) is an English footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Belgian side

RSCA Futures RSCA Futures is the Youth system, youth academy of Belgian club R.S.C. Anderlecht. The most senior team of RSCA Futures acts as Anderlecht's reserve team, and competes in the Challenger Pro League, the second flight of Football in Belgium, Belgian ...

Early life

Born in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, England, Mendel-Idowu was regarded as a

child prodigy A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...

academically, featuring numerous times in national and international competitions, most notably coming second in the 2014 edition of Child Genius. Mendel-Idowu attended independent boys' preparatory

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

Ludgrove School. At the age of thirteen, he was made a King's Scholar at Eton College.

Club career

Early career

He joined the youth academy of Chelsea at under-8 level, following interest from numerous other clubs including Arsenal and Tottenham. In July 2021, he signed a new contract with ''the Blues''. Following the conclusion of the 2022–23 season, with his contract set to expire, Mendel-Idowu was offered a new deal by Chelsea. However, on 18 July 2023, it was reported by Spanish journalist Albert Rogé that Mendel-Idowu had rejected this offer, and was close to joining Spanish side Barcelona.

Anderlecht

Despite these links, on 27 July 2023, he officially signed for Belgian side

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

. Initially assigned to the club's reserve team,

, Mendel-Idowu scored on his debut in the Challenger Pro League in a 3–2 win against Dender.

International career

Eligible to represent both England and Nigeria at international level, Mendel-Idowu was first called up to the

England national under-15 football team England national under-16 football team, also known as England under-16s or England U16(s), represents England in association football at an under-16 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in Eng ...

in 2019. Tudor scored his first England U17 goal against Scotland on 8 February in a 3–0 win and followed that up with a further 2 goals in England U17's next game playing as a right winger. He later made substitute appearances against France and Luxembourg in the England U17 qualification games.

Personal life

Mendel-Idowu's grandfather on his mother's side is, John Adeleye-Abai, played for the Nigeria national football team as a winger. His other grandfather on his father's side, Dr Fola Kayode Mendel-Idowu, was a gifted academic – he specialised in bio-aeronautics and was Africa's first 'flying doctor'.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendel-Idowu, Tudor 2005 births Living people People educated at Eton College Eton King's Scholars Footballers from Berkshire English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent English men's footballers England men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Challenger Pro League players Chelsea F.C. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players RSCA Futures players English expatriate men's footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Black British sportsmen