By Samuel Oti
A nimble and fast striker Ugochukwu Oduenyi has remained a talent hunting for the green land of gong and glory in the football world.
Oduenyi’s dream of playing for Manchester City stumbled in 2015 despite training with top players in the team with the accompanying Patrick Viera. He enjoyed the Etihad stadium with the hope of signing for the English Champions but there was broken down talk between the club and his representative.
Though another factor was the fact that the club had signed Kelechi Iheanacho after a blistering career in the national team. Despite that, Oduenyi has moved on from what could have taken him to the center of the world.
Maybe Guardiola would have fancy his tiki-taka playing style with a mold of height that gives him advantage over defenders, Oduenyi could have become a success in the English premier league going by his qualities.
Several top scouts have described Oduenyi as a quality player. Obviously, the Nigerian striker has yet to display his potential at world stage, no thanks to injury occurrence sometimes ago and less privileged playing time in the city of Minaj are not measurable enough to justify the full package of the striker.
Oduenyi grabbed the flight of Minaj for a sustainable ability as well as to demonstrate a pure talent of football and has provided numerous moments that exhibit his talent, despite playing less than desired.
Critics will be quick to point to the lack of goals, but the Amuneke Academy player’s qualities often go beyond the score sheets. In the series of video clips, he has quickly justified himself as an unlucky talented player waiting to stage a blistering moment with goals.
It’s important to place context around Nigeria’s new environment.
In reality, Minaj must have seen great potential in Oduenyi before — providing him a spot in a bid to help him resuscitate his career while supplementing their ageing attacking line. Though, the striker is lacking game time but has remained calm with good focus to unleash his quality at a given opportunity.
Painfully, the former manager of Minaj who brought him to the club was sacked over poor outing and the fate of Oduenyi with the fate of the player imbalance with the new coach, and that could send a bigger signer to potential suitors from Belgium and Russia for the all round striker to finally move to a club where he can establish himself and stage the world with goals and gongs.
His quality was instrumental in FC Minaj move and he ignored the pleasure to focus and give everything on the pitch to regain all his fitness lost to injuries. Oduenyi’s talent could give him a surprise move to Europe elite team if he chooses to quit struggling FC Minaj in the summer.
The narrative around Oduenyi has been around the lack of goals and playing time even when the quality is hunting for greatness. He has yet to score for Minaj in any lesser game he has played. As is so often the case with Oduenyi, he has just missed that little bit of luck. He is getting into the right positions at the right time, but the final ball is found wanting.
Despite not having the game time as expected, Oduenyi has consistently proved a lot during the training sessions and remains focused to help the Ukrainian team beat off the relegation battle, he’s a patriot of his team, encouraging his team mates and providing adequate support on and off the pitch. All these could be a blessing in disguise for the young talent striker if he chooses to move to a more famous club in another country or a better assured team in Ukraine next season.
He’s full of wonderful goals, great ball passer and enduring talent.
In a surprising feature to Oduenyi’s game, he has proven to be a strong dribbler. Oduenyi has proven to have quick feet and can move the ball out of tight spaces.
Overlook the treacherous off ball movement and forget the near misses, even without those two items Oduenyi has demonstrated quality in other areas. He has the quality to play primarily as a second striker, meaning he plays just behind a pure #9.
Ugochukwu Oduenyi likes to drop deep into midfield to connect play. His subtle lay-offs and delicate one touch passes serve as the connective tissue between the midfield and attack. He’s an adaptable forward and is capable of playing anywhere across the attacking line.
A top scout from France once described as a different and classy striker whose glory is waiting. Matteo Ismail said: I was exclaimed with his videos, he’s a good striker but I think such a player could be a bit unlucky but I think patience and focus will unleash him very soon. He plays like Lukaku indeed but I think he’s faster and dribbles better than Roman.”
However, Turkey or Russia could be the next destination for the ambitious striker who dreamt to play and win for Nigeria whenever he had the opportunity to be there on a platter of gold
