Mat Sadler: Ex-Walsall striker has set the benchmark

The Saddlers boss played with Adebayo during his 18-month stint at Bescot, which heralded 18 goals in 65 appearances.

Adebayo scored his first career hat-trick in the Premier League during Luton’s 4-0 crushing of Brighton on Tuesday evening.

The 26-year-old hit double figures during both of his two full seasons in the Championship at Kenilworth Road, and has found the net eight times in his debut campaign in the English top-flight.

Prior to Luton, the former Fulham academy product had loan spells at non-league Slough Town, before further stints in League Two at Cheltenham Town, Swindon Town and Stevenage.

He initially arrived at Walsall as a raw talent, and as Sadler explained, faced a tough battle proving his critics wrong.

“Elijah is the epitome of football and luck. Not that he is lucky in what he is doing right now but there was a difficult period at Walsall when things weren’t going great for him,” Sadler reflected.

“But you have to get that little bit of fortune. All of those things have to go into the melting pot to have a career like he is now.

“Like I said, there was a point where things could’ve went down a different path for Elijah. He fought through it and he is now earning the reward for that.

“This game throws all sorts of different things at you. One week you can be the back pages and the next you can be the fish and chip packet.

“He worked hard, he believed in himself and he is someone to look up to for all of our players to show what can be achieved.”

It took Adebayo until late-September to open his goal scoring account for the Saddlers during the 2019-20 season, and he boasted a tally of just five heading into penultimate game.

A goal and an assist in a 2-2 home draw against Port Vale followed by a brace in a 3-1 win over Exeter City on the final day ultimately created a spring board for a successful second season.

Walsall returnee Josh Gordon, who partnered Adebayo up front, witnessed his journey first hand.

Adebayo hit a rich vein of form in 2020-21 and had scored eight in 18 games by Christmas.

He signed off for the Saddlers with another double against Port Vale, and Gordon feels it was always inevitable that a big move would present itself.

“I enjoyed playing with Eli. When he first came in, he was still trying to find his way but you could see the progress every day,” Gordon revealed.

“He started to bulk himself up in the gym and was always asking for advice from other people.

“It was a good partnership. It was like little and large. It was just a shame that I had an injury quite early on, which stopped the partnership.

“But to see him thrive on his own up there before he got his move was inevitable.”