Odion Ighalo praises God and Quique Sánchez Flores for his remarkable yearThe Nigeria striker has scored more goals than anyone in English football this year and hopes to extend his run for Watford against Liverpool on Sunday
Odion Ighalo, the Watford and Nigeria striker, who is the top scorer in English football in 2015
Tuesday afternoon and Watford’s first-team squad are taking part in a practice match at their London Colney training ground. It is an intense session leading to a blur of bodies, yet it is still possible to notice that someone is missing – Odion Ighalo. Soon the striker is spotted hurrying through the canteen holding a tray full of smoothies. “The physio told me to bring them to the guys in the gym, I was helping him,” he explains as we sit down to conduct this interview, one in which it becomes clear that Ighalo’s generosity of spirit stretches beyond being a juice carrier.
The 26-year-old goes on to speak about how he regularly sends a portion of his monthly salary to his family and a number of charities in his native Nigeria, with his desire to help those less fortunate than him formed on the back of an upbringing he describes as having been a “struggle” and that has led to deep humility within a deeply religious man. Over the course of our 30-minute conversation, Ighalo refers to God more than a dozen times – and more often than not in thanks for the life he leads now.
In professional terms that has meant goals, goals and even more goals. Ighalo has 26 to his name during this calender year, making him the top scorer across the whole of English football in 2015, with the one he secured for Watford in their 1-0 victory over Sunderland on 12 December taking his tally to 10 in his debut campaign in the Premier League. It is a highly impressive return and reason for Liverpool to fear before their visit to Vicarage Road on Sunday lunchtime.
“I thank God for the great year and successful season I’m having but I’m still the same me,” Ighalo insists. “It’s just the goals that have changed. My life, my training, my work, is still the same and I just want to keep going and giving my best for Watford.
“After the Championship I did believe I’d score goals in the Premier League – but not the way it is going now because I know the Premier League is more difficult. But I put in a lot of hard work during pre-season and maybe God said it’s my time.”
Ighalo joined Watford on loan from Udinese in July 2014 – having also played for Lyn Oslo, Granada and Cesena – with the deal being made permanent three months later. Given his combination of power, pace and sound technique he seemed a natural fit for English football, yet the player initially struggled, scoring only four times in his first 19 appearances for his new team. In the second half of last season Ighalo exploded, however, scoring 16 times in 18 games as Watford soared to automatic promotion from the second tier, with the partnership the Nigerian forged with Troy Deeney key to his and the team’s success.
The pair scored 41 goals between them during the 2014-15 campaign, with Ighalo assisting Deeney on two occasions and the 27-year-old returning the favour three times. This season they have scored 15 goals between them, with five assists for each other – one by Ighalo, four by Deeney – already racked up. In an era where front-twos have become a dying breed, it is a wonderful throwback to see Watford’s so in tune.
“Since last season we have been working every day in training and playing games together, so it’s normal,” says Ighalo of their excellent partnership. “Troy doesn’t watch any more where I am going to run, he just plays the ball into space and knows I will be there. And I don’t watch him, I just pass and I know he’ll be there. We have that connection and it’s working very well.”
Ighalo describes Deeney as a nice guy and praise also follows for Quique Sánchez Flores, who, having become Watford’s fifth manager in a little under two years in June, has done a sensational job of guiding them to seventh in their return to the top flight.
Having arrived in Hertfordshire, Sánchez Flores could have decided Ighalo did not fit into his plans; it has been suggested the club were actively looking to sell the player before the start of this season. Indeed, Ighalo recently said he was close to joining the Chinese club Hebei China Fortune after they had a £10m bid accepted by Watford and offered him “crazy money” to move. The striker stayed, though, describing not moving to an “uncompetitive league” as “one of the best decisions I have ever made”, and is flourishing under the Spaniard with the striking beard.
“Quique Sánchez Flores doesn’t talk much but he’s very intelligent,” says Ighalo. “It was not easy when he came and he was telling us to do this and that but now we’re enjoying our football and giving teams problems – that is what he has put in place.
“For every team we play he has a different approach and whether we win, draw or lose he will call us together afterwards and say: ‘Thank you for your effort. You guys are making me proud.’ This is something I have not seen before and as a player it gives you a lot of belief in your manager.”
Ighalo is speaking freely and fluently but that changes when our conversation switches to his childhood. There is a nervous laugh followed by a reluctance to go into detail. “If I talk about everything I went through we will sit here for 10 hours,” he says gravely.
Ighalo has spoken previously about how growing up in a ghetto in Ajegunle, a densely populated district in the heart of Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, regularly led to him and his five siblings, along with his parents, Paul and Martina, going without clean water, food and electricity, and how as an aspiring footballer he had to often play barefooted on a mud-soaked pitch that hosted running battles between drug dealers and the police. Rather optimistically, the locals dubbed it “the Maracanã”.
“It was difficult to live, difficult to eat and that is why I thank God when I look where I am now,” Ighalo says, opening up somewhat. “We didn’t always have what we wanted or needed, we had to struggle. That is why I also thank God for my mum – she is the one who worked hard to pay for my first football boots. My dad wanted me to go to school and study, and when I would not do my homework he would spank me. My mum would then quarrel with him and say: ‘You have to leave this boy alone and let him play football.’ So she has always encouraged me.”
For Ighalo, the money he sends back to Nigeria is the least he can do and the desire now is to extend his charitable work further. “I’m planning to open an orphanage in Lagos next year,” he says. “I don’t do these things because I want people to praise me. I’ve been doing them before I joined Watford – ever since God started blessing me I have been helping the kids, helping the widows. I’m not a millionaire but I have more than lots of people back home and I want to help them.”
For all his generosity, it is possible in Ighalo’s company to also detect personal ambition. Goals put food on his table and those of others but are equally part of a plan to move up the career ladder. When discussing his international career – Ighalo made his debut for Nigeria in March and has gone on to score twice for his country – the striker speaks about how “when you play for your national team you get more recognition”. Earlier, and in the context of his non-move to China, he also spoke about wanting to “progress in his career” and knowing that if he does, “the money will come”.
Ighalo’s contract with Watford runs until June 2020 but club officials would perhaps be wise to offer him fresh terms quickly, while over at Old Trafford, where the need to bring in a forward grows by the day, they may be interested to hear who the Premier League’s third-highest scorer idolised as a child. “I liked watching Dwight Yorke when he was at Man United. I’m a Man United fan.”
For now, however, the focus is firmly on Watford and helping them record what would be a fourth successive victory on Sunday. Their opponents can be a difficult proposition, especially away from Anfield, but given his form it is no surprise Ighalo is savouring the challenge. “I’ve played against Man City, Arsenal and Man United but playing against Liverpool will be different because I now have the confidence to face any team and give my best,” he says. “I never think about how many goals I have scored but, yes, everything is going well. Thank God for that.”
Guardian
