Place of Birth: Enfield Town
Date of Birth: 11 July 1991 (27)
Position: Striker
Current club: Ebbsfleet United
Player Profile
Corey Whitely is a fast, lively and hard working attacking player. He is quick and skillful and apparently loves stepovers, his social media handle is @Stepover7 to reflect this.
His boundless energy and bursts of pace make him a threat on the press. He will always look to put pressure on defenders and goalkeepers in possession, trying to force them into making errors to give him a chance at goal.
Career Path
Whiteley started out in Sunday League, working in Iceland stacking shelves on minimum wage on Saturdays and playing for Enfield Town on Sundays.
Fighting hard to get into full time football at the age of 24 gave him a hunger that is reflected in his playing style, particularly his never say die attitude and commitment to the team.
In two seasons at Daggers he scored 24 goals in 72 games, playing alongside Orient full backs Joe Widdowson and Sam Ling. He moved to Ebbsfleet in February 2018 as a result of Dagenham’s financial difficulties.
Last season he scored 11 goals, with seven more this season so far.
O’s fans will remember Whiteley scoring in both encounters at Brisbane Road between Orient and Fleet in the last year, particularly his late equaliser at the start of this season.
Whiteley scores with a volley against Orient in March 2018.
Whiteley shows his skill to turn Craig Clay before scoring a 91st minute equaliser against Orient in August 2018.
My Reasoning
It has been reported that Corey Whiteley is a target for Orient, especially since news of Ebbsfleet’s current financial problems arose. Fleet have already released winger Luke Coulson to Bromley for free.
Orient have two excellent strikers with Bonne an out-and-out number 9 and Koroma as a second striker.
Matt Harold and James Alabi offer different types of impact from the bench, but unfortunately cannot be relied on to start games.
Whiteley has the quality to challenge Koroma and Bonne for starting places, as well as giving another option from the bench.
His style of play is markedly different to any of Orient’s current strikers. He also has the versatility to play across the front line, so could come in for Dayton, McAnuff or Brophy as well.
Whiteley would be just the kind of player Orient need to kick on in the second half of the season. He would give Orient more options in attack and increased competition for places across the attacking line.
Securing his signing would be a huge boost to the O’s promotion prospects.
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