The 24 -year -old is now in his second season with Slavia, helping them advance seven positions at the top of the Premier League Czech classification at Christmas.
Ogbu sat with Tribalfootball. com last week for this exclusive conversation, where he discussed his resolution to move to Slavia, his hopes of a first senior call in Nigeria and also what lies in his career plan ahead.
Slavia Prague
Seven transparent problems in the most sensible of the table, do you think this can be the season in which you win a first league championship?
Yes, we are seven points clear and for sure, I believe that it’s our time and I strongly believe in God I know that for sure we are going to come out victorious and win the league this season. I’m certain about it.
Now that its second season begins in the Czech Republic, do you think the League has improved its personal game?
Yes, it is. I will say that my season so far in Slavia was beautiful. The league has improved, they’re doing well and the league is improving. We have more competitive matches between Czech teams. So for me, I think the league is smart right now.
What is the importance of running with coach Jindřich Trpišovský? Have you taken a step forward in your game?
With my coach, he has a very good sense of the game. He knows when to change and when not to. He is a good coach and he has been helping me, the players and others in the team. He has really worked hard for me to be a better player.
How did you treat your head injury? The first moments must have been difficult.
My head injury, I think it was the most difficult moment for me. Everyone who saw it doesn’t see things as they happened because everyone thought it was whatever just happened and everything would be okay for me, however, I broke a bone in my face and it wasn’t easy for me because it had never happened before. for this. type of injury before.
I was at the hospital when the doctor told me that if the bone went up a little bit, that would have been the end of it for me, active football wise. It was something very scary to stop doing what you love.
So for me it’s been God’s grace, otherwise God, maybe I’ve just lost it (my career), not being able to eat or do what needs to be done, it’s actually hard.
How did you mentally get over the unfortunate accidents in the Prague derby?
You know with the Prague Derby, it’s a completely different game. Sometimes you know that in football you are not mentally strong, not that you are afraid or anything, but in those type of games, you know that the small chance that the opponent has, they will definitely use it opposite to you and those types of games, you want one hundred percent concentration.
So with Derby, I don’t have anything in my brain when it comes to them, it’s just a game and I pass to play and whatever happens, happens.
How do you see the existing festival for the position of the central defender in Slavia?
There is nothing, there is no one competing in central defense or anything. Football is football, you can’t play each and every and every and every and every game, there to play before I injured me and when I returned here I recovered for the team. I am not thinking about the position. I think the most vital is that we win, that my goal. I do not see any festival there, I only see football players who seek to give their productive maximum in their own way.
Norway and Nigeria
What convinced you to join Slavia from Lillestrom?
For me, what convinced me as a player was that the club that came to choose me had great plans for the development of my career. It’s not just about going to a club because they’re big or in a safe league, it’s nothing of the sort. It’s more about how they can build a bigger player with you and in all the groups that came here for me, Slavia was the one that was open enough to make me feel comfortable at home and that’s why I chose Slavia Prague.
Were there offers? Why the Czech League?
The Czech Republic championship is a smart championship and you can see that the Czech championship has produced a lot of smart players abroad. They produce intelligent bases, we see a lot of players betting on the Italian championship because they come to see the Czech championship. It is a smart league for development.
As a player, you know you have to grow, you don’t just play good seasons and run to a bigger club. You can face difficulties that you can’t maintain. So, you have to build yourself in every step of the way so that when you reach the top, it will be better for you.
Here there are many players who have had since the young people, have evolved and played in the Club Academy and have moved to the main team, so it is much less difficult for them.
We, Africans, are different, we have to be wise when making decisions.
What is it like for you to play in Norway?
For me, I chose Norway because it is a smart position for the progression of young players from Africa who dream of playing professional football in Europe. It is a position in which you remain focused and it is very calm. You just play football. It’s you and football.
For me, playing in Norway has really helped me, I met some good people. It is a good place to start your football development in Europe.
Are transfers to Scandinavian countries a way for African players to establish themselves in Europe?
Transfers to Scandinavia are a smart choice, but with African players it’s all a matter of mentality because not all players are mentally strong.
When you travel and you leave home you need to know that you leave home because you want to feed home.
So, it’s an intellectual thing. I don’t think it’s about Scandinavia or anything like that, it’s just about going out and enjoying football, and that’s going to be really smart. I don’t think betting on Scandinavia is a bad position for an African player. It’s actually a smart position to start, if you have the confidence and spirit you need to grow and believe in it.
You played for former Leeds player Eirik Bakke at Sogndal. How did you work with him as a coach?
Actually, Eirik Bakke is one of the best coaches I had since i started playing football. He really helped us when it comes to not just playing football, but life outside football. He counselled us on how to live as players. He has experience, he has gone to abroad, he knows how the systems works. He was teaching we the African players how it should be.
For me, Bakke has been one of the best coaches I’ve had, so playing for him is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I’m proud of that.
What about the Super Eagles? Have you had any contact with the NFF? Should their scouts come and watch you?
For me, the Super Eagles is a team that every Nigerian kid dreams of. Every footballer wants to play for his country, to wear the jersey and be proud of it.
I had contacts with the NFF. The last time I had contact with them, my father had died, but for me I am waiting for the right time and when the time comes, I know that I will be in the team.
So I’m not in a hurry, I just believe in what I can do and I just have to wait. Other Nigerians are betting and other players are there too. It will be your time if you keep running hard and improving your game, it will be your time and it will definitely take place in God’s time.
Tell us a little about betting for your country in the U20 World Cup. In what aspects of your career is that compatible?
Playing for Nigeria at the FIFA U-20 World Cup was good, but one thing for sure is: I don’t take too much (from it), it’s a youth football tournament and I’m already playing abroad. So, for me it was fun to represent my country in the U-20 FIFA World Cup.
I was happy to be there, it helped me actually because it exposed me to understand more about football, to understand more on what I need to work on as a player, it helped my career in a certain kind of way.
Are you friends with your compatriot Victor Olatunji, who also lives in Prague but plays for Sparta?
With regard to this, I have no challenges with people, however, I am not a town. I do not faint or do many things, however, of course we are great. He is an intelligent player and I have no challenge with him.
When it comes to football, yes, however, outside the gates of football, we don’t pass out like that, so I’m not passing on saying that, it’s okay, we’re friends; Yes, he is Nigerian, we see each one and greet each one and all that, that’s all.
PLAYING IN EUROPE AND FUTURE PLANS
Was he going to be a defender in Nigeria?
In fact, I didn’t start out as an advocate. I started playing as a winger. I think a player got injured and the coach needed someone to play in that position. So I had to move to right-back and play, after that he saw that I was doing well.
One day, the coach asked me to play in the central defence position, I did and I continued playing from there. I never wanted it initially, but when it worked out well and all that, I just continued and that was how I became a central defender.
Who were the players you looked up to as a young player?
In fact, one of the players he admired when he was younger was Carles Puyol, he was a wonderful defense. I love the way he defended and John Terry, another very sensible defender, and I love him because I saw his dedication, the mentality he had and I think that encouraged me when I was a young footballer.
He has received reports at European festivals. Can you tell us how your game has improved against Rome and AC Milan?
Playing in the European games really helped me to develop my game, it made me see that football is something that when you love it and you put your energy into it, you can achieve anything.
Then, playing with those wonderful players and seeing how they played helped me to realize so much that I needed to feel it, the game made me realize how and with talent that I can be.
For me, I think it helped me to know that the future is bright, that I am just starting to make things happen. So playing with them was very fun for me, it was not with pressure. It was just fun for me to just play and enjoy when you play with these teams.
What about marking Olivier Giroud, Romelu Lukaku and Omar Marmoush?! How did you find that experience?
Playing against Giroud, Lukaku and Marmoush can be described as a good experience for me, a great thing. Lukaku is a very strong striker, Oliver Giroud, Marmoush as well, who everybody knows, the experience is there. I wasn’t stressed at all. After playing against Lukaku, I think I don’t have any fear against any striker.
Is the Premier League an ambition?
The Premier League is a good league, but I’m not a player who chooses to say ‘this is the league I want to play, I want to play in the Premier League or I want to play in that league’. I’m just a player that loves football, I love to play football.
Whether the Premier League is the Premier League and when the time is right and all that, and they come, I know that I’m making the right resolution for myself and for my family.
In Beyond you had the opportunity to leave the Slavic, which you took. What made you stay?
I had many opportunities to leave Slavia, but I don’t think they were opportunities because I felt that it was not the right time and in the background sorry, you know, as some paintings of players with their instincts, some players not all. I array personally, I paint with my instincts and I see what is intelligent for me and what does not. I am in a hurry to go anywhere, I would only like to play and enjoy football and when the right offer comes to me, I will feel it strongly and I will pass, that’s what I think.