Supremely skilled, jet-heeled and lethal in front of goal, Philip Otele is the latest in a long line of exciting young Nigerian talents setting pulses racing all through Europe.
The 22-year-old wide-forward has emerged this season as one of the best performers in the A Lyga, the Lithuanian topflight, his return of five goals in eight games firing FK Kauno Žalgiris’ title challenge.
Born in Port Harcourt, Otele was educated in England where he played for the Teesside University and Wolviston FC in the Wearside Football League before joining Kauno Žalgiris last year.
His exploits in his second season at Žalgiris might be slipping under the radar of some fans back in Nigeria, but the lid has since been blown off his irrepressible talents in Europe and his name crops up with increasing frequency amongst senior figures and recruitment staff at some of Europe’s leading clubs.
And it’s not hard to see why he’s currently generating plenty of excitement if his brace in the 5-0 mauling of Nevezis is anything to go by.
With those two strikes, the 22-year-old displayed two very different aspects of his game which revealed the fullness of his talent.
First, he showcased his extraordinary dribbling skills to open scoring, leaving defenders in his wake with dainty footwork reminiscent of Jay Jay Okocha and then exhibited shrewd predatory instincts reminiscent of the legendary Rashidi Yekini to double his side’s lead.
His potential has been clear since his first season at Žalgiris and it came as no surprise when he was named the Young Player of the month for March.
Lithuania might not be a European football powerhouse, but the confident, intelligent and well-educated youngster made the move to the A Lyga where former Super Eagles vice-captain Ogenyi Onazi also plys his trade to enhance his chances of playing regular senior football.
The move also ensures that when the time comes, the Port Harcourt-born forward with a wide knowledge of the Nigerian and European game would be perfectly prepared to join one of Europe’s biggest sides as a first team player.
And that might happen as soon as this summer going by the covetous glances cast his way by Europe’s elite but for now, Otele is focused on driving his side’s title challenge and would be looking to add to his goals haul when Žalgiris visit Banga Gargzda on Sunday.
What is clear is that Otele’s talents are unlikely to go unnoticed by a wider audience for too much longer and it appears only a matter of time before he turns out in Nigeria’s famous green jersey for the Super Eagles.
18 Comments
Ok we keep monitoring until proven Worthy of bn look into..the league there is far too low to make noise abt
That is the mistake you guys are making.
Jo Bonfrere saw the quality of Aghahowa and he included him into the squad that won the second place at the Afcon 2000.
League doesn’t mean but the quality of the players.
Oga Rohr have been making this mistake for a while.
This is why he never called Adi.
We have players, we can build to three strong squads from these players.
We are not in the era of Mr. Westerhof that built Super Eagles up to five years. I can understand that he had to travel from one state another to see players.
But Oga Rohr doesn’t haveto do that. Life is more easier than then. All it takes Oga Rohr is a call.
Invite Player and let the player have 30 to 40 minutes of game time at least if he use the players in two to three games and if the player is not good enough, we will see by ourselves that the player is not up to the task.
He tried that for the first time with Iwuala and the guy proved his quality to Oga Rohr.
So, Mr. Obidee, every player deserves to play for Nigeria as long as they are Nigerians, they should be welcome into the team. God bless Nigeria!!!
Omo9ja you’re very right on this. I’m sure other forumites will also agree with the idea that a player should be judged by form and attributes that will help our national team as long as he is doing well and not too much focus on the country they ply their trade.
Your post is sentiment driven and using aghahowa as reference shows how inept you are with regards to Nigerian football. Aghahowa was already an u20 star before he was given a shot in the super eagles by bonfere
Otele is doing it in Lithuania doesn’t mean he deserves a shot in the Snr national team yet but a good starting point for him so I urge him to follow the footsteps of Terem Moffi who start from Lithuania and now doing great things in France
Omo9ja you’re wrong. Let him develop first. He should move to mainstream europe. This is a paid ad from CS. We can’t be fooled. But anyway we are watching…
Well, I seriously don’t get your point. Like, why would you expect the coach to invite everyone to the team. This same team has one of the 3 hottest strikers in the world right now in Osimhen, Kelechi, and Onuachu. And you are here clamouring for a Nigerian in Lithunia. The funniest part is you even stylishly agreed that league quality doesn’t matter. At least, try to think things through.
And please, stop this cry over Iwuala performance in the last qualifiers. Tbh, at a super eagles level, that guy brings nothing to the table of the current super eagles team. His presence in the team will do him more good than it will do the team.
You guys are bunch naives. Who will the dude replace in the national team ? If I encourage the dude to up his quality to national standard how does that state that Coach rohr to invite him? Sometimes i feel people are just ignorant as a result of the devices that surrounds them. Promiscuous talents should be recognized and monitored or mentored into national materials this is what the French, Dutch and English teams do, and this is exactly why we are almost loosing Eze. Big mouthed fellows will be talking when they have low thinking capacity. Shit forum!
Eze was invited as an observer for what reason ? Does it make sense the NFF president is now acting in position of a capacity that should be held by another office that will help liberate upcoming players but we keep doing things the analogue way and expect modern results. I didn’t have to go further just that when people starts linking bogus ideas to your thoughts then they have to be enlightened and walked out.
@omo9ja MOST TIMES, when I read your comments here, I feel so annoyed that I almost want to slam my phone at your level of unrepentant thinking. So a team that plays 5, 6 or 8 games a year, where one defeat is enough to build a sack letter, a team that rarely have time for friendlies due to the covid restrictions, you want him to invite every dick Tom and Harry, keep testing them in competitive matches, be chopping’and changing them since new players are so many on standby? Is that the method you want him to adopt? Always calling up fresh legs? Sir with due respect, with everything you hold sacred, I don’t want to insult you no anyone here but please stop giving me nightmares all in the name of writing on CS comment section. Your level of thinking makes Mad Men feel like genius. Your level of ignorance reflects the inherent decadence pervading the landscape called NIGERIA. I have kept on enduring the gibberish you spew here but I’m sick and tired of your thinking. It is giving me sleepless nights. Please help me to remain sane by keeping your writing pad unused. I don’t mind paying for that to happen. Omo9ja you are a nightmare to my sanity. Please stop. I beg of you. Thanks
Lmao… Lol… @joel, abeg, no kill urself bcs of this man, abeg.
So, mr intelligent Chima Samuel, Rohr should be using the Super eagles as a testing ground,Okoye from 4th division in Germany, Jamilu collins from 3rd division in Germany,are some of the recent players Rohr picked from obscurity, not to talk of Lokosa the npfl highest goal scorer that failed miserably,Rohr invited a player from Bulgaria to play for Nigeria, people said he invited him because he(Rohr was his agent) the Eyimba guy will soon run to europe now, that one will no more be called a home based again, we will be looking for another home based. So Rohr should invite this one again. Aghaaowa was not unknown before he joined Super eagles, he had a very good under 21, the recent under under 21 did not even qualify from the first phase of qualifications, the under aged team of recent in Nigeria is failing, that’s why we are begging foreign born Nigerian players to come and play for us. Super eagles is a serious business not a place to invite jack and harry. Hope I didn’t insult anyone.
Jamilu was a German 2nd tier league player when he was invited
@devilsown you’re so cheap.
Na wa Nigerians, so sad that names will be called for something we should use logic for. I am not saying he should be called to national team. I am encouraging a young player with a promising career. It is sad that since we look at names instead of reading and comprehending from a large scale of thought, else Omo9ja’s point will not be discredited. Often times this players visit the website when they are on the news. So we have to say words of encouragement. I feel sad that a lot of naive people who don’t have a relationship with football and its lifestyle will be here saying nonsense.
So funny that you guys allow CS to achieved their aims by debating on this topic. It’s crystal clear that this is a paid advert. Perhaps some of the agents are at work.
If we all noticed, since the day iwuala make a 10mins debut for SE he has always been on the headlines, the agents won’t stop until he is sold.
This report is not about the quality of the otele guy, but about the desperation of the agent behind it.
Nothing to monitor in this guy, if he is that good as they claim he will soon hit limelight.
…sotey even when Enyimba lost on Thursday night in Benghazi running heedlessly and directionlessly for 90mins with ZERO shots on target, including their so-called 1 million euros rated star, CSN refused to report it so has not to spoil the PR they have built for the boy so far….LMAO. If you want to know what the true definition of “waste of time”, just stay up late to watch Enyimba play an away game on the continent this season…..LMAO. CSN and PR jobs are like Nkwobi and Odeku…..they go perfectly together….LMAO
Oga Dr Drey, nna men, i clap hand for you o. I bin dey wonder why i no hear pim concerning di Eyimba match so tey i con conclude say dem no even play. You hit the nail on the head on this one bros.
My broda dem play the match o. I stayed up late to catch the game and eventually regretted doing so. It was so shocking CSN didn’t say pim about it subsequently after previously talking about a phantom “iwuala magic” in the days leading to the match….LMAO. These people think the low standards of the NPFL is enough metrics to benchmark a player’s quality. See them play against their counterparts on the continent first, you will be humbled. And the confed cup is still the lower tier competition compared to the CAFCL where the main Al-Ahlys, Zamaleks, Esperances, Mamelodi sundowns and TP Mazembes are.