The out-of-favour Doncaster Rovers playmaker that has opportunity to revive his season in the EFL Trophy

The 2026/27 season is still very much in its early stages but it's fair to say that so far Doncaster Rovers supporters have yet seen the version of Hakeeb Adelakun that lit up League Two during his first spell with the club.

So far this season, the 30-year-old has made just six first team appearances and is yet to register either a goal or on assist. He’s started two league matches and hasn’t featured at all in League One since being at half-time during the 2-2 draw away at Stevenage.

In fact, Adelakun hasn’t featured at all in the matchday squad in the month of September, other than a brief 19-minute cameo against Huddersfield Town in the EFL Trophy.

“Just rotation. We’ve got a big squad,” said Grant McCann when quizzed about the winger’s absence from the first team.

But it's clear the winger has potential despite currently being behind the likes of Leon Ayinde, Jordan Thomas, Bayley McCann and Tommi O’Reilly in the pecking order, with the Rovers boss certainly spoilt for choice in terms of options in the wide areas.

Fans only need to look back at Adelakun’s first spell at the club during the second half of the 2023/24 campaign when the winger’s arrival from Lincoln City on loan directly coincided with a miraculous upturn in fortunes, which saw McCann’s side go from League Two strugglers languishing in 21st position to the in-form team in the country - notably finishing the season with 10 consecutive wins that equalled a club record of ten straight league wins stretching way back to 1947.

Adelakun was central to this miraculous Rovers revival, registering 16 goal contributions in 19 appearances in the run-up to the play-offs and only losing one of the 18 matches in which he was selected to start.

The London-born winger’s notable moments included a hat-trick of assists in a 5-1 win at Grimsby Town along with strikes against Walsall, Accrington and Barrow as Rovers looked set to end the season on an all-time high.

Adelakun lit up DN4 during his first spell only for it all to end on a bit of a low after his missed penalty in the play-off semi-final shoot-out loss to Crewe Alexander.

It was a tough ending for a player that had done so much to drag Rovers into the promotion conversation, and despite fan clamour to make the deal permanent, the winger didn’t return that summer and instead moved to Salford City.

Grant McCann said at the time: "It’s just football. You don’t get everything you want so we had to act quickly. We always had plans in place if we didn’t keep players."

A year and a half passed with Adelakun spending a season at Salford City and a short-term spell at Cheltenham Town, before the stars aligned for McCann to re-sign the 30-year-old midway through last season.

He showed glimpses of his promise with two goals and three assists from 19 league matches as Rovers ended the season on a high, but currently finds himself with a challenge to get himself back into the starting lineup.

Thomas and Ayinde are coming into form, Bayley McCann is showing promise after netting for Northern Ireland Under-21 while Tommi O’Reilly arrives with a big reputation after a stellar campaign at Crewe last season.

However, with Ayinde and McCann potentially being eased back into action once the international break finishes, the EFL Trophy match against Liverpool Under-21 could offer Adelakun a window of opportunity to remind everyone just what he is capable of and perhaps give the manager a bit more of a selection headache heading into the long-awaited League One game with Burton on October 10th.