Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye is in talks with Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam ahead of a potential transfer this summer, Completesports.com reports.
Okoye will be a free agent this summer and has been linked with a number of clubs in Europe.
The 20-year-old and his agent were spotted on Friday afternoon at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteele for a meeting with club president, Henk Van Stee.
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Okoye joined Fortuna Dusseldorf from another German club Bayern Leverkusen in 2017 but has failed to make an appearance for the first team.
He made 14 appearances for Fortuna Dusseldorf reserve team in the Regionalliga last season.
The young goalkeeper has been capped once by Nigeria.
12 Comments
Halleluyah! This is a very welcome news and I hope the deal pulls through and he gets to keep the goal fairly regularly. With Okoye in a high-profile club as Rotterdam and Akpeyi jetting out to a European club soon, maybe we can finally start heaving a sigh of relief at the back. Plus Uzoho getting back to fitness soon, it’s starting to look good. Otherwise, it would just be about searching for a decent 3rd goalkeeper now.
Oga Kel, as you can tell, I wholeheartedly join you in this euphoria about the possibilities of Okoye moving to another club.
About Akpeyi, hopefully he too will make a move to a European team but the question remains as to whether that would even help repair his damaged reputation in the eyes of many Super Eagles fans – I very much doubt it.
Once our goalkeeping department settles down we will march on towards being the best team in Africa….. Good times ahead my brother, good times ahead…
Yes o, my brother. While the defence line is looking solid enough, the goalkeeping area hasn’t really inspired confidence since the exit of Enyeama and Ikeme from the scene. Akpeyi may be good, but there’s something fundamentally off about him. I believe it’s the trick of the cobra, by inflating its hood at threats, it looks bigger and more destructive and therefore deflates the confidence and ability of the opponent. I think most goalkeepers are 50% confidence and panache and 50% skill.
How important is the goalkeeping dept to a good coach? Absolute! Sir Ferguson may be reverred in English football, but I think one of his greatest strengths was investing so much effort time and money in goalkeepers. In those days, you have to be really good to beat Van der Sar or Schmeichel Snr. That tradition has been continued (although not with so much effectiveness as Ferguson). And that’s one area of heavy investment by Barcelona, too. Simply put, great goalkeepers make great teams.
I can remember how before the Corona virus wahala and global shutdown, Athletico goalkeeper, Oblak single-handedly stopped Liverpool in the ECL and handed victory to his very poor and underserving Madrid teammates, playing Simeone’s strange brand of negative football for the whole of 90 minutes.
Okoye might be untested, but his confidence and panache in the post against Brazil were rippling, rubbing off on everyone, including spectators back home. For me, that’s a major asset and foundation to build on. Thank God he was well protected. I remember Enyeama had it before his hot-headedness jammed with another hot-headedness and everywhere scatter. Lol.
Akpeyi sure has his strengths, just as much as Uzoho. It’ll be a good competition and headache for Rohr with Okoye about to stand shoulder to shoulder with them.
Yehiiiii!!!
This is great news. This lad is too good to be playing in an amateur league in Germany. It is time he steps into the light and show the world what he is truly made of.
I pray this move does materialise and that he walks straight into their starting 11 after all, he is a Nigeria international in a team destined for greatness and on the cusp of performing wonders in Africa and beyond.
What better time to be a Super Eagles International than now; what better time to stake a claim for Nigeria’s number one goalkeeper slot which is still very much up for grabs.
Akpeyi is doing well in South Africa but he seems eternally unable to convince Super Eagles supporters that the number one position is in safe hands whenever he is in post. Ezenwa, a veteran of the NPFL, neither has the confidence of his coaches and many fans whilst the de facto number one Francis Uzoho is very credible but can still do with competition to help him further improve his current impressive standing.
A few good Super Eagles games for Okoye can help create a good impression in the minds of fans that Okoye can be trusted. But a good start will be to find a decent club and feature regularly.
Which neatly takes me back to the article above with the news of linking him to Spatar Rotterdam as a welcome development.
I just feel like droping it here….
… I pray their BP don’t go higher than KILMANJARO MOUNTAIN
Now that ROHR will stay till after the world cup (QATAR 2022); what will those haters do???
Wow great news!i hope it pulls through.The lad has a lot of potentials and with a height like that,he has a bright future ahead of him in football if he keeps working hard.
The recent ideas of searching for prospective players at their formative years rather than when they have risen to stardom is showing good signs.
Meanwhile,we had same opportunity of making Dele Ali our own in his MK Dons days but waited too little too late,i think that and recent experiences changed our plans and the recent strategy is beginning to show tactical shrewdness by our football authorities and manager respectively.
Hoping this move sees the light of the day,and he is able to cement a regular place for his new team in the Dutch top flight,this will bring fierce competition for places between the sticks with his more experienced glovesmen,the likes of Akpeyi and Francis.First choice will then depends on the fittest goalkeeper on the day.
Daniel Akpeyi is 33 years
Ikechukwu Ezenwa is 31 years already
I guess it’s because these guys came to international limelight late in their career that’s why no one seem to discuss their age.
In about 3-4 years these guys will be talking about retiring from active football(just a proposition) then we’ll have to fill another two slots in our goalkeeping department again.
We should start looking inwards(THE NPFL) to look for credible replacements
Since we are discussing goalies, check out this refreshing interview with Vincent Enyeama
https://youtu.be/vc748vyLdJg
Daniel Akpyi is better than this okoye
@Bill, not very accurate. It should be Akpeyi is more experienced than Okoye. Remember, when Akpeyi was in the U20 in 2005, Okoye was just a 6 year old child. You cannot compare the two as Okoye is just starting while Akpeyi would soon be at the end of his career.
We are all beginning to see exactly what being competitive and active in a club can do to a player prior to getting a look-in and invited to a national team !!!
In the past, a player will feel relaxed and feel untouchable while playing for national team because he believe the coach can not bench him and also believe he has no player to content and rival with him in a position in the team!!!
The Super Eagle coach, Gernot Rohr has made the NATIONAL team a very competitive team!!!.
He has bought a philosophy and positive mindsets to the lads and that is….BE ACTIVE IN YOUR CLUB and BE IN A CLUB THAT WILL DEVELOP YOU AND GIVE YOU AN OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE !!!
Another concept that I have noticed in the Super Eagles is that most of our players that are unplayable in their respective clubs still sits on the edge while expecting an invitation when national duty calls.
AND I WILL TELL YOU WHY….
Daniel Akpeyi can not feel relax in his club form or performance (irrespective of the fact that in club football right there with South African Champs, he benches the club captain and South african number 1 goal-keeper) and expect to get an easy call up in the national team because there are about 5 other sound Nigerian goal-keepers breathing on him for that lone slot!!!
Even the likes of Wilfred Ndidi, Victor Osimhen, William Troost-Ekong know say, if them lose grip of form, whahala don dey be that !!!…There are others in wait to grab that position and e go take a while before coach fit look ya side again fa !!!
So a sound Kudos to Gernot Rohr and his technical team…because our players are not just looking for any-just clubs when they look for a club to sign for. They are also actually considering a club where they will be involved actively in their field play week-in, week-out; so that when national assignment is at hand, they will sure have a chance to be invited.
And which player will not want to play for a national team currently on the rise like the Super Eagles!!! Every qualified player both home and abroad, wants to be a part of this Adorable Soccer Gladiators!!!
A couple years ago when our national team wallops in 70th position on FIFA rankings, it becomes a problem for a player to get a nod from foreign clubsides because they rate your national team very low and; also considering the sheer fact that a player must have a certain number of caps to get signed in some high profile leagues in Europe.
Our players did suffered. Imagine a quality Player like Victor Moses signing for Chelsea in 2012 and was loaned right, left and centre….until he started playing for them actively from say 2016…would that has happened to him if he stars for Brazil, England, Germany or if Nigeria is 35th position FIFA ranking then?
But just look at it now, top clubs in Europe will not say much from the striker, or mid-fielder or defender or goal-keeper that stars for a top African national team that ranks 31 in world ranking!!!… and A national team that has the potentials to keep rising in the rankings!!!
So Why wouldn’t Sparta Rotterdam have a look at a Certain 20 yrs old Maduka Okoye, a young goal-keeper whose most recent first and only cap for a top national team like Nigeria was against a strong Brazilian team parading a mouth-watering, high profile players of immense pedigree!!….and guess what the score-line is….The high-rated Brazil national team forced the underdog Nigerian super Eagles to a score draw ….and this was on the 13 October 2019!!!….and the match was not even played in Abuja oooo!!!
So tell me why, The Osimhens, The Chukwuezes, The Ndidis The Ajayis, The Troost-Ekongs of The Super Eagles of Nigeria will not be in top clubs sweating it out in the UEFA champions league in a year or two from today!!! IT IS JUST A MATTER OF TIME !!!
Let keep the positive vibes on….Let’s keep supporting this national team (Gernot Rohr and his coaching team, The players and NFF)….The future is BRIGHT ooooo!!!
I am just buzzing in joy for our lads!!!
Greetings all and Stay safe!!!
To add to your points Kel, no greater indication need be sought of the importance modern day football managers place on goalkeepers that to look at the case of Manchester City and Liverpool who spent millions of pounds to hire arguably the best goalkeepers on the planet in efforts geared towards navigating them to the path of winning trophies.
Goalkeeper Allison of Liverpool is now worth £64.80 million whilst Elderson of Manchester City is worth £50.40 million which are just breath-taking sums for goalkeepers.
If you try to benchmark these figures, England goalkeeper Ben Foster of Watford is valued at £1.8 million whilst Kasper Schmeichel of Leicester is valued at £8.55 million.
You can see the difference and how far the big teams are willing to spend in investing in world class goalkeepers.
A good goalkeeper is no longer an after thought – far from it. They are now seen by modern managers almost as important as strikers in their quest for glory. It is therefore not a coincidence that Liverpool won the champions league the season they brought in a new goalkeeper.
I am keen to see how the goalkeeping department for the Super Eagles evolve in the coming months.
Credible options are starting to emerge. If they can maintain their focus and imbibe the right work ethics, then we will go places.