Adingra: Ivorian dribbler following in the footsteps of Haller

Born in Côte d'Ivoire, Adingra began his football journey in neighbouring Benin with ABIS Sport Academy. In 2018, he joined the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana. Like former Ajax player Mohammed Kudus, Adingra made the move from Ghana to FC Nordsjælland in Denmark. By the beginning of 2020, he was part of the Danish club's U19 side.

Scoring on his debut
After appearances for the club's youth and reserve teams, Adingra made his senior debut away to FC Copenhagen in the Danish Superliga Championship Round in early 2021. It did not take him long to make an impact. The attacker came on for the final 22 minutes and scored the equaliser in the 90th minute to make it 2-2. During the following season (2021/22), Adingra recorded the highest number of successful dribbles in the league with 70. After 40 appearances, twelve goals and four assists, he secured a move to the south coast of England in 2022.

Brighton & Hove Albion immediately loaned him out to Union Saint-Gilloise. Once again, Adingra found the net on his debut. Away against STVV, he played the full match and scored his side’s only goal in a 1-1 draw. The winger impressed throughout his time in Belgium. During the 2022/23 season, he made 51 appearances across all competitions: 30 in the league, six in the play-offs, nine in the UEFA Europa League, two in UEFA Champions League qualifying and four in the Belgian Cup. In total, he played 3,114 minutes, scored fifteen goals and provided fourteen assists.

Looking specifically at the Belgian league, only three players registered more assists than Adingra’s tally of nine that season: Mike Trésor, Teddy Teuma and Joseph Paintsil. In terms of dribbling, he completed 59 successful dribbles, ranking seventh in the league. Adingra and Union Saint-Gilloise eventually finished runners-up behind champions Club Brugge.

Premier League
Following an impressive campaign, Adingra returned to Brighton & Hove Albion. He also scored on his official debut for the Premier League club. After coming off the bench against Luton Town, he needed just eleven minutes to find the net. In his first season with Brighton, he made forty appearances and scored seven goals.

Two of those appearances came against Ajax. The Johan Cruyff ArenA got its first close look at Adingra’s qualities on October 26, 2023. The Ivorian scored and provided an assist as Brighton claimed a 0-2 victory in Amsterdam. He was also influential in the return fixture in England. In another 2-0 win, Adingra contributed an assist. During his second season with Brighton, he made 33 appearances and scored five goals.

In the summer of 2025, Sunderland signed the attacker. This time he did not score on his debut, but he did provide an assist in a 3-0 victory over West Ham United. At Sunderland, Adingra ranked highly in one particular statistic. Among Premier League wingers who played more than 600 minutes, only ten recorded more runs in behind per ninety minutes. This metric measures attacking runs made beyond the opposition’s defensive line.

Playing alongside Ajax players
After half a season, Adingra was loaned to AS Monaco. In Ligue 1, he featured in fourteen matches, scoring three goals and providing two assists. He also recorded the highest average number of dribbles per ninety minutes in the division and ranked fifth for dribbles completed in the opposition half. At Monaco, he played alongside Caio Henrique and fellow new Ajax signing Thilo Kehrer.

Côte d'Ivoire
Adingra is also a full international for Côte d'Ivoire. He has earned thirty caps to date and enjoyed his greatest success at the beginning of 2024 during the Africa Cup of Nations. In the final, the winger provided two assists, including the pass for the winning goal scored by former Ajax striker Sébastien Haller.

At the World Cup in the United States, Adingra made one appearance. He came on as a substitute against Germany during the group stage. Following Haller, Adingra becomes only the second Ivorian player in Ajax’s history.