IAN McCALL has revealed a recommendation from West Ham United manager David Moyes helped convince the Partick Thistle boss to bring central defender Tunji Akinola to Firhill.

The 22-year-old, a graduate of the London club’s famed academy, spent last season on loan at Leyton Orient in England’s fourth tier as he received a crucial grounding in the men’s game.

After being released from the Premier League outfit this summer, Akinola has signed a one-year deal in Glasgow’s west end and McCall admits that a couple of phone calls from down south helped swing the deal.

“He’s been up for about ten days and played in a game,” McCall said of his new recruit. “With [first-choice centre-back] Darren [Brownlie] being out we’re short of defenders – I would say we need two – but Tunji played something like 33 games with Leyton Orient last season at a mixture of centre-back and right-back, so that really helps us.

“Ricky Martin, the academy director at West Ham, phoned me about the boy and then I spoke to David Moyes.

“He’s got a lot of attributes. He’s only 22, he’s quick, he’s strong so hopefully he can kick on with us and do well. But it’s the same as Jake Hastie – he has to get in the team first.”

Akinola is something of an unknown prospect north of the border and McCall has told Jags fans to expect a powerful, physical player.

But the Thistle boss is adamant that there was another crucial factor at play when he was considering offering the defender a contract – one that Moyes and McCall agreed on.

“The one thing we were both in agreement about was the type of boy he is, and that’s really important to me,” he explained. “We’ve now got a group of players that don’t make excuses and so he’ll fit in really well. 

“He did very well last season and I think they were surprised that Orient didn’t keep him but hey-ho: that’s football.

“They spoke very highly of him. They didn’t think he was going to reach West Ham’s first team but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a really good career in football.

“He played for West Ham’s under-23s and had been there since he was eight or nine. I just saw him with his top off there – goodness gracious me, he’s a fit boy!

“I think his level of fitness is pretty good but it’s the same as any other player. Cammy Smith has been absolutely brilliant in training and done absolutely brilliantly in both games.

“All these players have got to bide their time and try to get in the team. Once they’re in, they’re going to have to work to stay in the team.”

McCall has just about applied the finishing touches to his squad with the transfer window closing at the end of the month. He adds that he’d like to bring in another two recruits but concedes that he’s likely to be left disappointed.

“I would like to get another two players in but that’s unlikely,” he rued. “I’d like to think we’ll get another one in.

“The squad is small but I think every single one of the players in our first-team squad can go and play, and go and do well. It’s a small squad but it’s big in talent and it’s big in attitude, I hope.”