Iorfa flourishing at Wolves

Dominic Iorfa’s rise to the first team at Wolverhampton Wanderers clearly underscores the success of the club’s academy structure, which is a category one status facility.
After debuting against Bour­nemouth, the England youth in­ternational has played consecu­tive matches against Sheffield Wednesday as well as Brighton & Hove Albion, to justify his claim to the right back position and is set for Friday’s match at Watford, which is live on SS 5HD from 6:25pm.

Watching him play first-team football for Wolves is no longer strange to his mother (Susan), brother (Collins) and sister (Jennifer), but his father (Dominic Snr) will be there for the first time.
Iorfa’s football education started at Southend, one of the clubs his father played for dur­ing his football career.
Scouted as a 15-year old at Southend by Wolves, he made the switch to the Molineux and continued his football develop­ment at the prestigious Wolves academy.
After excelling at the academy, the youngster was promoted to the under-21s and his consistent performance at­tracted the attention of Wolves manager, Kenny Jackett.
Iorfa’s dedication to duty earned him the captain’s band in some matches for the Under-21 side in the Barclays Under-21 Premier League.
Iorfa has not looked back since making his debut against high-flying Bournemouth in front of the home fans.
And credit must go to Jackett and the academy staff for devel­oping the defender.
Indeed, Jackett raised a few eyebrows by blooding the Wolves Academy graduate at right-back for the 2-1 home defeat against Bournemouth.
Lessons learnt from his loan spell at Shrewsbury Town, in League One, last term boosted his confidence.
Town manager, Mike Jack­son, applauded the defender for his contribution during the loan spell at Greenhous Meadow, last term.
“He’s a young lad who plays with no fear,” Jackson told the club’s website, shrewsbury­town.com.
Truth be told. Jackett pre­pared Iorfa for the new task by taking him closer to the start­ing line-up after featuring in first-team squads without quite making the bench.
Injuries to key men Scott Golbourne and Ethan Ebanks- Landell created the opportunity for Iorfa and he did not disap­point.
It was mixed fortunes on a day his side lost, but the youngster earned recognition for his five-star performance as Man-of-the-Match.
“I thought I would maybe get on the bench a few times so to go straight into the starting line-up was very pleasing.
“But I definitely won’t be getting carried away,” he told birminghammail.co.uk.
Iorfa made his debut for England’s school boys in an international friendly (in March 2013) against Belgium, in An­twerp, where his father started his professional career with Royal Antwerp.
Interestingly, the youngster debuted on a day his proud father watched from the stands.
Since then, the youngster has made progress in the youth side and made his Under-20 debut in a recent victory over Portu­gal’s Under-20 team.
Unlike his father, who made his name as a forward, Domi­nic, plays is comfortable as a right-back and also plays centre-back.
“I’m happy he’s not a for­ward, because that will put him under pressure. Dominic has done well as a defender,” his father said to supersport.com.
The 6ft2in 19-year-old will certainly be useful to any ambi­tious manager as who wants to deal with aerial balls within the box.
With his rapid development, Iorfa is clearly set for more years at the Molineux as he is signed to Wolves until summer 2015 and the club also holds the option of an additional year.
Profile
Full name: Dominic Iorfa
Club: Wolverhampton Wan­derers
Former Clubs: Southend United (Youth Career), Shrews­bury Town (Loan League One)
Championship debut: vs Bournemouth (2014)
Position: Defender (Right-back and Centre-back)
National Team: England Under-20