“What a way to score my first goal,” Tolu Arokodare tells Sky Sports. “I was going to shoot it far corner but then I saw he was trying to close me so I changed my mind at the last minute.”

The dinked finish worked. “If it didn’t, they’d have killed me,” he laughs.

Wolves’ new striker, signed for £23m from Genk in the final days of the transfer window, sealed their 2-0 cup win over Everton on Tuesday, a welcome boost after a winless start in the Premier League. The man they call Tolu thinks he can help change that.

“We need to believe in ourselves,” he says. Not a problem for someone who has overcome bigger challenges in a career that has taken him from Nigeria via Latvia to the Premier League. His demeanour is that of a man who has been waiting for this spotlight.

Tolu is talking to Sky Sports at the training ground while a screen outside plays his goal – and the subsequent celebration – on repeat. That celebration, where he mimes sipping a cup of tea, is now his calling card, a play on the initials of Tolu Emmanuel Arokodare.

“Whenever I score, it is TEA time. It is my time. I started it when I was playing in Amiens, in France. It motivates me. I just have to keep scoring, keep putting the celebration out there.” Others are mimicking him on social media. “People do it in Nigeria now,” he says.

Wolves team-mates too. Marshall Munetsi and Jorgen Strand Larsen told Tolu they would do the same if they scored. “Marshall obviously lied!” The Zimbabwean forgot after scoring the opening goal against Everton. “Luckily, I got the chance to do it myself.”

‘My first word was goal’

For Tolu, this obsession with goals began early. There is a story within his family that it was even his first word. That is what they tell me. We were watching a Nigeria game on television. Everyone yelled, ‘Goal!’ I just yelled the same. That was the first thing I said.”

His family continue to support him on this journey. He smiles at the sight of a picture of his parents on the pitch in Belgium as he receives the ebony shoe, awarded to the best African player in Belgium. “They are not going to be around for a long time so the moments they are around for are always going to be huge.”

His first goals for Nigeria came recently. “It was a big deal for my dad. The big steps with the national team, he has been waiting a long time for that, so I am happy he is around to see it.” His father is a Chelsea fan but Tolu and his brothers followed Manchester United.

“I always loved Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham. With Beckham, I just knew that he would swing his left arm when he took a free-kick, the style, the fashion. With Ronaldo, I actually watched him play, that team with him and Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney.”

Competing in the Premier League must have felt a world away for the young Tolu back then. “I always wanted to play in the Premier League but you could never really imagine it happening. When it comes to the reality, it is like, wow, I am actually here.”

‘Defining moment in my life’

There were many times when that journey to England felt impossible. There were trials with Freiburg and Toulouse that came to nothing because of visa problems. Eventually, Tolu’s agent had the idea of Latvia. “It was the defining moment in my life and career.”

At Valmiera, Tolu began to show what he could do. “It brought me out into the football world.” He has fond memories, although he felt a long way from home. “They were very welcoming people but most of them had not seen a black person before in their lives.”

From there, he was plunged into the Bundesliga with a struggling FC Koln side. It proved too much for the teenage Tolu. “Honestly, I don’t think I was ready for it. It was a huge, huge step up from Latvia. I did not start one game. I was really struggling,” he concedes.

“The intensity, it was just different. And because it was a loan with only an option to buy, I felt like I was on trial. If you don’t do it, you are going back. It was a moment I needed in my career to help me understand what the level is, that you need to pay your dues.”

‘The best thing I have done’

Tolu did that at Amiens, in France’s second tier, and then, most spectacularly, at Genk in Belgium. His 24 goals last season made him the joint-top scorer in the top division, with a particular knack for scoring in the big games. Even there life was not straightforward.

“Before last season, I was almost leaving Genk. Some fans were saying, ‘Let him go, we want him to go’. Even during the season it was like that but the coach was supportive. The coach, he convinced me to stay. He said that he would make me the top scorer.”

What changed? “We changed completely how we played. There were new players who came in and I changed too. I started to play with a lot more confidence. I felt more free.” It transformed his trajectory. “It was the best thing that I have done so far in my career.”

‘I wanted to use my reach’

Tolu is making a difference off the field too. In Belgium, he was able to shine a light on mental health issues. “Before, I did not like to show my vulnerable side. I used to feel it was a weakness. But I realised people can only use it against you if you let them,” he explains.

“That is when I put the message out there for people who were struggling with loneliness. I was not really lonely myself but I was seeing a lot of stories on social media, people who had been thinking of taking their own lives and had been able to come through it.

“I knew I had a kind of reach. I wanted to use that to show love and support to people. I did not know it would go as far as it did. I got messages from people who did not even watch football. It was amazing, the power of it. I did not know that it would go so far.”

He reveals he would like to use his platform again but is a little frustrated by the restrictions in the Premier League. “It is a little sad because I heard that you cannot put slogans on your shirt under your jersey. But there are different ways,” he adds.

‘It was like WWE’

Some of these opportunities will hinge on him being successful on the field, but Tolu is confident more goals will follow despite Wolves’ difficult start. He is encouraged by the success of Strand Larsen. “We have almost the same profile. It is a perfect fit.”

The pair could even play together, he insists. “When you have two big guys up front, it puts fear in the opposing defenders. It is a threat. And we are also both good with our feet. We have that element of surprise. Are they going to cross to me or to Larsen?”

With the Premier League becoming increasingly physical, the 6ft 6in striker could be the man for this moment. He has already tussled with Dan Burn at Newcastle and James Tarkowski against Everton. “Apparently, they are the most physical teams?” He smiles.

“In Belgium, they would give fouls against me. Here, they just play on. I did not know this. I enjoy it. In the first game, it was like WWE. I started to think, ‘Okay, that is how it is here. You have to literally punch someone in the face!’ I am getting to grips with that.”

It is Tottenham away on Saturday night. A big occasion under the lights. And Wolves might have just the man for the job. “It is coming together bit by bit. In time, everything will go smoothly. The results are definitely going to come.” And that means goal celebrations too…

Watch Tottenham vs Wolves live on Sky Sports Premier League; kick-off 8pm on Saturday Night Football