Inside Toyosi Olusanya's St Mirren transfer exit for Houston

The National

01-05-2025

In Olusanya's mind, he would be fielding calls from his agent from the beach during a well-deserved break after a transformative few years in Scotland. A holiday to Dubai had already been planned before interest emerged from the MLS.
An unexpected transfer approach from Houston Dynamo arrived in the days leading up to the pivotal final Scottish Premiership split match against Ross County, with St Mirren's top-six hopes on the line.
Quickly, thoughts of a summer break were parked for Olusanya, and partner Kirsty, as negotiations between St Mirren vice-chairman Jim Gillespie and the Dynamo footballing department began at a rate of noughts with around 10 days to finalise a deal before the MLS trade deadline.
The striker featured in the decisive 3-2 win over Ross County with the knowledge it may well have been his last outing for the club. By this point, neither his family, or his team-mates were fully aware of the situation with no guarantee a deal would be finalised.
Olusanya, 27, was, understandably, hopeful of making the move Stateside with St Mirren not standing in his way after securing a top six place and negotiating an impressive £200,000 transfer fee for a player out of contract in a number of weeks.
Three days later, and with four overweight suitcases in tow, and Olusanya was on his way to Houston via London.
Read part two of The Herald's Toyosi Olusanya exclusive on St Mirren memories tomorrow, first in the free David Irvine on St Mirren newsletter
"Wednesday of the week before the last game before the split Dynamo came in with an offer," recalls Olusanya after his third training session with his new club.
"So obviously I spoke to the board and they said, 'Listen, we'll play out the last game, see how the last game goes and then we'll just take it from there'.
"I had hopes that it would have went through, but obviously I wasn't sure. I was wanting to win and regain top six. So we won, we got top six.
"In my head, I thought, wow, this might be my last game, but it might not be. So it was a bit of a shame I couldn't say bye to the boys face to face and say bye to the fans and everything.
"The next Wednesday, the manager called me and said a bid had been accepted by the club. Within that time, I had to pack up my home, put all my clothes in storage, bring what I could and let my family know.
"I didn't want to let my family or Kisty's family know before in case it didn't happen because it was 50-50.
"By Wednesday, we were saying goodbye to Kirsty's family and by Friday, I was on a train to London, saw my family and then on Sunday morning, I was on the way to Houston."
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Olusanya was not short of options ahead of his contract expiring with approaches from clubs in Scotland, England and Europe before Dynamo entered into the equation.
It didn't take much for Peckham-born Olusanya to be convinced of a major switch to the US, though, given a largely unconventional career path to date.
"With me, my journey's been unique," he said. "I started in South London, you know, I went up to Middlesbrough, I went up North England, then I went to Scotland. So I was kind of like, I like how my journey's been, like, so unpredictable.
"It's not been your usual football career, you know. Houston was, again, a place of new beginnings, new people, a new town, new culture.
"I was really open to that. I felt like, you know, I stayed just under three years in Scotland. So I felt like I was getting, not used to, but like I kind of knew it in terms of the people in Scotland.
"I just wanted to kind of go somewhere else where I could, you know, push myself and test myself and just learn not just different things about myself as a player, but as a person."
Olusanya has not yet made his debut for the new club as he awaits international clearance before taking to the MLS stage in the next few weeks.
Smiling as he admitted his summer plans have changed significantly with the MLS season well underway, he added: "Initially, I thought I would be on the beach somewhere and then I'd be on the phone to my agent getting calls, asking to connect to the local Wi-Fi and whatnot.
"I thought, obviously, I'd be on the move at some point this summer and I didn't know if I was going to be in Scotland where I'd receive certain interest or down south in England or even in other European countries.
"But, obviously, this was off the cuff and it happened and it just felt right, you know. So far, I feel like I've made the right decision definitely."