William Troost-Ekong has said goodbye to his Udinese teammates ahead of his move to Sky Bet Championship club Watford.
The centre-back is expected to complete his move to Watford this week according to the Watford Observer.
The Nigeria international was left on the bench in Udinese’s 1-0 away defeat at Hellas Verona on Sunday.
Troost-Ekong has played in England before during his youth career, when he spent time at both Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur.
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Watford manager Vladimir Ivic recently described him as quality player.
“I know him as a quality player and he will be one of the players who will help us in the future, if he will come, if he will join us.”
The 27-year-old joined Udinese from Turkish Super Lig outfit Bursaspor in 2018.
Troost-Ekong featured in 65 league games for Udinese without a goal to his name.
He has scored twice in 42 appearances for Nigeria.
By Adeboye Amosu
12 Comments
Well, at this point, I give up, best wishes to him, but if I am to say, it smacks of low ambition for a footballer.
Udinese to watford ????. Na waooooooo!!!!!
Strange move indeed.I remember i did mention Ekong’s dwindling fortunes in his club but was attacked here by forum members.Well i took it in the chin and hoped he makes a leap and was bemused to learn about this strange move to the English championships which left many super eagles fans as well,astonished and benumbed.
Well,i do not know how this would affect his position as the super eagles vice captain.Though players in the championship had played active roles in Rohr’s super eagles.But most recently Nigerian footballers are making enhanced progress in transfers and a few others (foreign born)are making progress in their nationality switch and a bulk of this players are defenders.
I’m really worried about Ekong’s position in his international team with this strange move.Well we wait and see what happens.
… Ekong is average. I will take Jordan Torunarigha, Felix Udokhai and Kevin Akpoguma ahead of him any day. I believe also Balogun and Ajayi are better than him too. He is to me at pat with Kenneth Umeruo.
… at par.
Well you could be right but his international manager has faith in him and has been a constant feature since Rohr’s appointment,despite super eagles boasting a pool of strong and reliable defenders.
The German defenders you mentioned above are very good bundesliga class defenders whose availability will take our football to the next level.
However,it would be disrespectful to say any of this defenders would bench those who are in the team already,i think when they are available they have to prove that they deserve to play ahead of those that has been in the team before them.
I disagree with forum members here!! Where do you want Ekong going to?
I still feel Ekong is one of the best defenders for Nigeria. He is consistent and make effort to better his performance constantly. Ekong has been having problems with club football for a while now and if not for Nigeria, he would have not been seen by the big clubs. Ekong has popped up to score goals for Nigeria and he is potential captain of the SE. I dare to say he is by far one of the best defenders we have ever had considering his performances for club and country. Some people will mention Taribo and Uche (but think, what clubs did they play for and how long did they play at the top), West was on the bench for both milan clubs and had to be shipped out to Derby near the end of his career.
Now, England is consistently trying to make playing in England difficult for Non-English players or Non-England experienced players. They hope to do this gradually and aim to keep the followership of their league. This points to the fact that we cant continue depending on foreign leagues to develop our 15 year olds who we have labelled good and above average. Look what nearly happened to Osimhen or other of our u17 top talents. May be I should also remind you that Iheanacho was developed as the guy behind the top striker and if you look at one of his best performance for the SE ahead of the 2018 world cup, (the Zambia first leg match in Zambia), he played off Brown Ideye. No foreign clubs will trust him with that position.
Back to Ekong, the only way Ekong can get into playing top tier football is a move to Watford who is currently aiming to get promoted to the EPL ahead of the world cup year in 2022. Another way is to get in an organised club that would have kept him for a long time like Napoli and market him for the quality he has. Udinese is badly organised and has been chopping and changing tactics and coaches.
I think Ekong is a good CB and currently one of the best CB in Nigeria.
Hmmm… Could this be a step back for a Great leap?
I try to see the GOOD out of the seemingly BAD. We all agree moving from a Mid-table team in the Serie A to a Championship club is not a good move at all. Looks like a step back. But, let’s look at the Positives from this.
1. W.Troost-Ekong is assured a starting berth at Watford. He has played at a level way higher than the Championship and might just be the Best Defender in the Championship this season.
2. Watford being a club in the Premiership before stand a good chance of qualifying for the Premier League again this season with quality signings like this. So Ekong might just be a Premier League Defender next season. Sounds good
3. Even if Watford didn’t qualify for the Premiership this season, A good showing at Watford will surely atttact Premier League clubs and announce him to the world because we all know English Media are good at announcing a player the moment you have 4-5 good games at a stretch. So this might also be an opportunity to take him to one of the Best Clubs in England so far he has a good showing this season.
Now if things didn’t work out as opined above, A move away or a loan move to Top tier clubs is always at your doorstep Ekong just like Etebo did and he’s having a good run of games at Galatasary now. Am sure if Etebo should continue this way till the end of the season, Galatasary will surely sign him permanently.
#MyOneCent.
… Good talk. Ekong is dedicated and seem to have fire and drive. Ajayi played in the championship and did really well, hopefully it won’t be different for Ekong…
I greet you all dear forumites and I thank you all for keeping this discuss civil so far.
On this Ekong issue, I will subtly disagree with the majority but it’s just my opinion even if I may be wrong.
Right from the days of the famous Oyinbo Wall, I have always rated Balogun and Omeruo higher than Ekong. With due respect to Ekong, the guy is a strong defender, disciplined, his huge physique gives that physical presence in defence and he also has goals to show for his effort. His discipline, coupled with the physical presence his stature gives must be the edge he had over Omeruo and I think our gaffer, Rohr, fancies that a lot.
For me, I admire the intelligence with which Balogun and Omeruo plays and I rate both of them higher than Ekong. Omeruo during his U17, U20 and early days in the Super Eagles showed a lot of class. But for his periodic errors/inconsistencies that guy would have achieved much more. This is where discipline comes in.For Balogun, injuries have always been his challenge, coupled with the unfortunate stint he had at Brighton.
I am therefore of the opinion that a combo of Balogun and Omeruo’s downsides has always given Ekong the edge in Super Eagles, hence Rohr decided to pitch his tent with him. Whatever plus Ekong brings to the team, he gives consistently at a rate of 100%, and whatever he fails to give you in a match you can trust he doesn’t have it. Despite Balogun and Omeruo’s flamboyance when they play, you’re never sure of Balogun’s physical fitness while your team may be in trouble on Omeruo’s bad day.Afterall, the devil you know they say is better than the angel you don’t know. Based on technical competence, I will pick Balogun & Omeruo ahead of Ekong. The gradual emergence of Awaziem and Ajayi is another factor to ponder on and on a good day, I will still pick this duo ahead of Ekong.
Ekong’s technical deficiencies seem to be his greatest undoing at club level. Since I started following Ekong I discovered he doesn’t stay long in a club and on several occasions he spent valuable time on the bench and even in the stands(ref; Buraspor and Genk/Gent). I was so happy with his two seasons performance at Udinese and I thought he was finally settling down and now,Watford. I read on another site that Ekong was declared surplus to requirements at Udinese, hence this move. I don’t like this news but I may just be right, his technical deficiencies might have caught up with him at Udinese. No one player wants to stoop low in his prime, if you ask me.
Whatever happens, I salute Ekong’s determination to succeed. During his junior days with Harry Kane at Tottenham Hotspur, his mum was told he isn’t meant to be a footballer and will not be offered a contract, yet he has come this far; Olympics, AFCON, World Cup, Serie A and still counting.
Regardless of his shortcomings he has proved that he isn’t one to be ruled out.
I sincerely wish him the best in this fresh challenge.
Hello my people it seems you all are not aligned to why Ekong went to Watford from Udinesa .. Watford in England and Udinesa in Italy and Granada in Spain this clubs are owned by one man ….as Watford went to relegation the owner and the manager of Watford admires and love Ekong style of play asked him to move to Watford so he can help them fight and return back to premier league ….with some incentive to back it up …there is no way Ekong will leave seria A for second division ….if you could remember Odion Jude ighalo played for Granada in Spain and he was moved back to play too with Watford and he was able to fight with them and bring them up to premier league ….so this is the reason why Ekong is moving to Watford ….you can do your own findings too…
Good comment, Nigeria Bebeto.
Giampaolo Pozzo owns Udinese, and his son Gino owns Watford. So the Ekong move is just an internal transfer, per se. He is still employed by the Pozzos.
Yes, Pozzo also owned Granada. But he sold the club to a Chinese businessman in 2016.
The Pozzos have a huge financial interest in the return of Watford FC to the Premier League, and deploying Ekong to Watford to help ensure this happens actually speaks to the trust that they have in Ekong as a valued player.