Joshua Osude departs for Forest Green Rovers

Woking Football Club can confirm that Joshua Osude has completed a transfer to Forest Green Rovers for an undisclosed fee.

Director of Football Jody Brown said:

“First and foremost, we didn’t want Josh to leave. We all wanted to see him flourish in a Woking shirt. Josh is a player we valued highly, and we worked hard to try to keep him at Woking. Recruiting him from a couple of divisions lower, I very much believed in his potential, and was delighted to see him become established at this level.

We’d opened negotiations to extend Josh’s contract a couple months ago, long before this approach, but Josh made it very clear he wasn’t ready to extend his contract, due to a lack of playing time and opportunities for him to develop further.

He has been very honest with us about where he saw his future and what his next steps would be. This was not about finances, above all it was about the direction he felt was right for him. When a player reaches that position, particularly with his contract entering its final months, the club has to face reality.

The agreement also includes a significant sell-on clause, ensuring the club benefits from Josh’s continued progress in the future.

We are committed to identifying young, hungry players and giving them a platform to grow. When that development is recognised by others, it shows we are doing something right. That cycle, identifying talent, improving it, and sometimes seeing it move on, is part of building a strong football club at this level. Our responsibility is to ensure the club continues to build and grow in those moments.

We respect Josh’s honesty, even though we would have preferred a different outcome. We still strongly believe in the group we have here, and this doesn’t change our ambitions for the remainder of the season, we were prepared for this outcome.

We greatly appreciate Josh’s contributions to the club on and off the pitch. It was uplifting to see the relationship he built within the club and especially within our fanbase. We sincerely wish him every success in the next step of his career.”