Ryan Ogam Opens Wolfsberger Goal Account but Concerns Remain Over Spells in Reserve Team

Harambee Stars striker Ryan Ogam scored his first goals for his Austrian club Wolfsberger AC on Saturday but it was not in the top flight but rather in the second-string team.

As the senior side prepares to face off with Sturm Graz on Sunday, Ogam will be watching from a distance as he will not be involved.

The Kenyan striker is instead having to contend with spells in the club’s reserve team, a far cry from what Kenyans expected when he secured the dream transfer from Tusker FC last September.

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Ogam joined Wolfsberger with his stock high after shining for Harambee Stars at CHAN 2024 while he had also banged in 15 goals for Tusker FC the previous season.

It was hoped that he would walk straight into the senior team and it looked like that when he landed in Austria.

He was handed his debut in a 3-1 Austrian Bundesliga win over Graz AK 1902 on October 4, coming off the bench for the final 14 minutes, eliciting excitement among Kenyans but he was dropped to the bench in the subsequent two league games.

Ogam would get 46 minutes in an Austrian Cup match against SKU Amstetten on October 29 but after that, he disappeared from the horizon.

The striker was called up for Harambee Stars’ friendly matches against Equatorial Guinea and Senegal in November but by this time, he had missed four straight games, two of which he did not even make the squad.

By the end of the year, Ogam had not played eight straight top flight matches and his situation did not change in the new year as he has missed all four matches Wolfsberger have played in 2026.

However, it later emerged that the striker had been dropped to the reserve team for reasons yet to be known and he now trains and plays with the second-string side.

Whether it is down to the fact that he is still struggling to adapt to his new surroundings or due to some shortcomings is something yet to be known but given Wolfsberger have had three coaches since he arrive and none of them has trusted him with minutes in the senior team is a cause for worry.

Before Saturday’s match, when he scored twice against St. Anna/Aigen in the Regional League Central, Ogam had last played on November 9, still for the reserve team, getting 63 minutes.

Ogam is seen as one of the heirs to Harambee Stars striker Michael Olunga and the fact that he is not playing top flight football should concern coach Benni McCarthy.

With the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations needing players who play consistently, the hope is that Ogam would have won the trust of the senior team coach and playing regularly in the Austrian Bundesliga by then as the quality of Kenya’s AFCON opponents will be very high.

A long spell in the reserves would cast doubt about his qualities and suitability to the Austrian league, bringing his future into focus when his transfer promised so much.