Carl Asaba

Carl Edward Asaba (born 28 January 1973 in London) is a former English professional football player who played as a striker.

Career

Asaba first came to prominence at Brentford, debuting in 1994 after joining the club from Dulwich Hamlet. His goalscoring soon attracted attention and Reading signed him for a club record £800,000 on 7 August 1997. He did not make an impact for Reading scoring eight league goals from 32 appearances, and subsequently moved on to Gillingham for another club record fee of £600,000.

He finished top scorer for Gillingham in season 1998–99 with 20 league goals and scored the opening goal in the final of the Football League One play-offs at Wembley, but much of the rest of his time at Priestfield Stadium was dogged by injuries. On 9 March 2001 he signed for Sheffield United for £92,500.

He became a favourite at Bramall Lane when he scored the second goal with a deft glancing header in a 2–1 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. He played a key role in the Blades reaching the Football League promotion play-offs with memorable late winners in home victories against Nottingham Forest and Leicester City respectively, and a hat-trick at Brighton & Hove Albion after coming on as a substitute.

On 5 August 2003 he was transferred to Stoke City. He made 70 league appearances for Stoke scoring nine league goals.

On 25 August 2005, Asaba joined Millwall in a free transfer, when then Stoke manager Johan Boskamp deemed him surplus...
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