Wycombe Wanderers’ Richard Kone is currently leading the League One golden boot race.
He was exiled from his family home in Abidjan, Ivory Coast at the age of just 16, after coming out as gay to his family, and first arrived in the UK in the summer of 2019 to represent his home country at the Homeless World Cup, unable to speak English.
Now, Richard Kone has become instrumental to Wycombe Wanderers’ promotion push from EFL League One and is becoming one of the most talked-about strikers in the lower leagues of English football.
After an unsuccessful trial at League Two’s Colchester United, and with stipulations of his visa meaning that he couldn’t play professionally, 10th tier Lopes Tavares London, later known as Athletic Newham, signed up the young striker following the 2019 Homeless World Cup.
With Kone instrumental in his first seasons at the club, although both curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Athletic Newham were promoted to Tier 9’s Essex Senior League in 2021. In his first season at that level, Kone managed to score a highly impressive 42 goals in all competitions, 17 more than the league’s next-highest scorer, as the newly promoted side finished comfortably in mid-table.
It was around this time where EFL sides started to sit up and take notice of this 19-year-old playing in his first season of senior football in a division that he was clearly far too good for.
In 2022/23, his final full season at Newham, Kone managed a further 40 goals in all competitions, as the team pushed for a playoff position.
Following the season’s conclusion, Wycombe Wanderers came calling.
The transfer was officially completed on 1st January 2024 when Kone’s new visa was approved; one of the most high-profile exits from the Essex Senior League was finally finalised, and Kone became just the fourth openly gay footballer to play in the EFL, and one of only two current players.
Upon his arrival at Wycombe, Kone began to build a reputation as a clinical finisher with an expert change of pace, and possessing the ability to arrive late in the box to score, a cross between an old-fashioned goal poacher and a pressing forward, given his willingness to drop deep and bring others into play.
In his first start for the club, in an EFL Trophy match against West Ham Under 21s, Kone took just half an hour to score his first goal in professional football and finished the season with four goals in 21 appearances, mostly as a substitute.
So far this season, Kone has scored 19 in 38 in all competitions, including against Aston Villa, and World-Cup winning goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez in the EFL Cup,
A real highlight of his time at Adams Park so far, and a testament to his rise in English football, came in October 2024, with Wycombe trailing 1-0 to Peterborough United in a League One fixture. Kone was introduced as a substitute in place of Fred Onyedinma, and within ten minutes had scored the perfect hat-trick: a left-footed drive, a close-range header and a right-footed penalty.
After the match he said, “I am so happy to score my first hat-trick. I’m always wanting to improve myself; I am learning from others as well.
“There is no negativity as we all want each other to do well. We have that positivity in the group.”
New Wycombe manager Mike Dodds was quick to praise Kone upon his arrival at the club.
“I love working with Richard”, Dodds said. “He’s in really good form and is training well. We have a lot of important players for the team and he is one of them.”
And former manager Matt Bloomfield, who was reported to have tried to secure Kone’s services for new club Luton in the January transfer window, is equally a massive fan of the Ivorian.
“He knows where the back of the net is and has great composure in front of goal”, Bloomfield exclaimed shortly after Kone’s arrival at the Chairboys in 2024. “We’ve got to be careful not to heap too much pressure and expectation on his shoulders because he’s still a young boy learning his trade but I think he’s going to play a big part in the future of the club.”
As the 2024/25 season nears its conclusion, Kone is top of the EFL League One goalscorers’ charts, one ahead of Birmingham City’s Jay Stansfield, as Wycombe sit second in the table. The striker has since attracted further attention, not only from Bloomfield’s Luton Town, but also from the likes of Championship promotion chasers Sunderland, as more clubs become familiar with his incredible story.
What lies next for Richard Kone remains unknown, but his extraordinary rise to where he is today cannot be understated.
