Bristol City loan signing George Elokobi: Profile

Bristol City have secured Wolverhampton Wanderers defender George Elokobi on a three-month loan deal.

The Cameroon-born footballer, who moved to England at the age of 16, joined the Wanderers in 2008.

He penned a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club, joining for an undisclosed fee.

Elokobi, 26, began his career with the youth scheme at non-league Dulwich Hamlet, after moving to London. In an interview with the Guardian he explained he enrolled at college and studied business, IT and sociology, but his real passion was always football.

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He remained with the club for two years before signing with Colchester United in June 2004 at the age of 18. He penned a one-year contract but ended up spending three-and-a half-years with the Essex club, during which time he made more than 40 appearances and enjoyed a one-month loan spell at Chester.

Reports suggested in September 2007 that Elokobi was set to leave the club, but Colchester manager Geraint Williams described the stories as "pure speculation."

But just weeks later, in November 2007, Elokobi handed in a transfer request after falling out of favour with the club.

He was dropped by Williams for the game with Leicester and, understanding that Charlton, Norwich, Ipswich, Crystal Palace and Watford were interested, he asked for a move.

The youngster told skysports.com: "I am a young player who just wants to be playing first-team football, I want to improve and I can only do that by playing and so I have asked for a transfer."

Colchester boss Geraint Williams told the club website: "I'm obviously very disappointed that he feels it necessary to hand in this transfer request.

"I know his attitude won't change and I expect him to give 100% to try and force his way back into the team."

In February 2008, the year Colchester were relegated from the Championship, Elokobi penned a deal with the Wolverhampton Wanderers.

But the season was to be over for the player by September that year, as he sustained a serious knee injury during a 2-0 win at Ipswich the month previous.

He damaged multiple ligaments in his knee, and had to undergo surgery.

Despite his injury woe, Elokobi was handed a 12-month contract extension in February 2009, tying him to the club until 2011.

According to his profile on the Wolverhampton Wanderers website, “Elokobi's rags to riches story continued as he came off the bench to make his Premier League debut from the bench in the defeat at Manchester City in August, 2009.

“Having lost his place to Stephen Ward, he returned strongly to finish the season as first choice left back, ultimately marking his rookie top flight campaign with 17 league starts and five outings as substitute.”

His form earned him a new deal at the start of the 2010-11 season – this time a three-year agreement tying him to the club until the summer of 2013.

In November 2010 Elokobi was called up to the Cameroon national team's training camp, in what he described as the proudest moment of his career. However, the youngster wasn’t capped.

Elokobi was then selected for the squad for the 2012 AFCON Qualifier match against Senegal in March 2011, and the friendly match against Gabon three days later.

Events did not pan out the way the player had hoped, however - he was an unused substitute against Senegal, and the friendly with Gabon was cancelled just a few days before it was due to be played. No reason was officially given for the cancellation.

In January 2012 reports suggested Elokobi had caught the eye of a number of Championship clubs. The player, who had dropped down the pecking order at Wolves, was said to be considering his future at the club.

The following month he joined Nottingham Forest on an emergency loan. In April he and other loan signings were praised by manager Steve Cotterill for helping the club pull away from the relegation zone.

Elokobi was at Ashton Gate for talks today and will go straight into the squad for Saturday's npower Championship clash against Leeds United at Ashton Gate.