The 24 year-old centre-back is now in his second season with Slavia, helping them to sit seven points clear at the top of the Czech First League table at Christmas.
Ogbu sat down with Tribalfootball.com last week for this exclusive chat, where he discussed his decision to move to Slavia, his hopes for a first senior Nigeria call and also what is in his career plan further down the road.
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, in your second season in the Czech Republic, has the league improved your personal game?
Yes, it is. I will say that my second season at Slavia was wonderful. The league has improved, they’ve done 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.
How has he been working with coach Jindřich Trpišovský? Have you taken your game a step forward?
With my coach, he has a very intelligent sense of the game. He knows when to replace and when not to. He’s an intelligent coach and he helped me, the players and the others in the team. He worked hard for me to be an older player.
How have you dealt with your head injury? The first moments must have been difficult.
My head injury, I think that was the hardest time for me. Everybody who saw this, they don’t see it as it happened because everybody the idea that it was all that happened and I’m going to be fine, but I broke my face and it wasn’t simple for me because I never had this kind 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 God’s grace, if it’s not God, I may just lose it (my career), not being able to eat or do what needs to be done, it’s hard.
How did you mentally overcome the unfortunate injuries from the Prague derby?
You know, with the Prague derby, it is a completely different game. Sometimes you know that in football, you are not strongly strongly, it is not that you are afraid or anything, but in that type of matches, you know that the little possibility that the rival has, definitely will use it against you and that type of matches , you want one hundred percent concentration.
So with the Derby, I don’t have anything on my mind when it comes to them, it’s just a game and I just swoon and play and whatever happens, it happens.
How do you see the existing festival for the position of the central defender in Slavia?
There is nothing, there is no one at the festival in central defense or anything. Football is football, you can’t play every game and each and every match, I was there to play before I got injured and when they brought me back, I recovered for the team. I didn’t think about the position. I think the most vital thing is that we win, that’s my goal. I don’t see any festivals there, I just see soccer players trying to give their maximum productive output in their own way.
Norway and Nigeria
What convinced him to sign for the Slavia of Lilstrom?
For me, what convinced me as a player was feeling that the club that came here for me has great plans for the development of my career. It’s not just about going to a club because they are big or in a safe league, it’s nothing like that. It’s more about how they can build a bigger player with you and in all the groups that came here for me, Slavia is the one that It was open enough to make me feel at home and that’s why I chose Slavia Prague.
Were there other offers? Why the Czech league?
The Czech championship is a smart championship and you can see that the Czech championship has produced many smart players abroad. They produce intelligent goalkeepers, we see many players betting on the Italian championship because they come to watch the Czech championship. It is a smart league for development.
As a player, you know you have to grow, you don’t just play smart seasons and race at a bigger club. You may encounter difficulties that you cannot maintain. Therefore, you must build yourself on each level so that when you succeed at the top, it will be greater for you.
There are a lot of players here who have had them from a young age, have evolved and played in the club’s youth academy and have joined the main team, so it’s much less difficult for them.
We, Africans, are different, we have to be wise when making decisions.
How was playing in Norway for you?
For me, I chose Norway because it is an intelligent position for the progression of young players in Africa who dream of betting in professional football in Europe. It is a position in which you stay focused and is very quiet. You simply play football. It is you and football.
For me, the game in Norway helped me, I met smart people. It is a smart position to start your football progression in Europe.
Are transfers to Scandinavian countries a good path for African players moving to Europe?
Transfers from Scandinavia are a smart choice, however, 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 a mental thing. I don’t think it’s about Scandinavia or something, it’s about just going there and enjoying football and it will be really good. I don’t think playing in Scandinavia is a bad place for an African player. It is really a good place for a start, if you have the confidence and the mind that you want to grow and you believe in it.
You played for Eirik Bakke, a former Leeds player, in Sogndal. How did you relate to him as a coach?
In fact, Eirik Bakke is one of the most productive coaches I have had since I started playing football. He helped us when he came not only to gambling football, but also outside the gates of football. He begged us how to live as players. He has experience, he has been abroad, he knows how the systems work. He taught African players what they deserve to be like.
For me, Bakke is one of the most productive coaches I’ve ever had, so playing for him is the most productive thing that’s ever happened to me and I’m proud of it.
What about the Super Eagles? Have you had contact with the NFF?Should their scouts come to watch you?
For me, the Super Eagles are the team that the Nigerian boy dreams of. Every footballer needs to play for his country, wear the shirt and be proud.
I had contact with the NFF. The last time I had contact with them, my father had just died, but for me, I am waiting for the right time and when the right time is due, 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 also there. It will be your time if you keep running hard and improving your game, it will be your time and will definitely take place in God’s time.
Tell us a little about your participation in the U20 World Cup in your country. Where is in your career?
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 because it allowed me to understand football better, to understand better what I have to do as a player, it helped my career in some way.
Are you friends with your compatriot Victor Olatunji, who also lives in Prague but plays for Sparta?
As far as this goes, I don’t have challenges with people, but I’m not a people person. I don’t pass out and I don’t do a lot of things, but of course we’re cool. 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 going to say that, it’s okay, we’re friends; Yes, he is Nigerian, we see each one and greet each one and that’s it.
PLAYING IN EUROPE AND FUTURE PLANS
Do you combine being a defender at home in Nigeria?
Actually, I didn’t start as a defender. I started playing as a winger. I think a player had an injury 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 did really, really well.
One day the coach asked me to play in central defense, I did and I continued playing from there. I never looked for it at first, but when it worked well and all that, I just kept going and that’s how I’ve become a centre-back.
What were the players that you were young?
In fact, one of the players I admired when I was younger was Carles Puyol, he was a wonderful defender. I like the way he defended and John Terry, another more level-headed 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.
You have had excellent results in European competitions. Can you tell us how gambling, such as Roma and AC Milan, have taken you a step forward?
Playing in European games has helped me expand my game, it has made me see that football is anything that when you love it and put your power in it, you can achieve anything.
So playing with those great players and seeing how they played, helped me so much to realise that I needed to feel it, the game made me realise how good and talented I can be.
For me, I think it helped me know that the long career is brilliant, that I’m just starting to make things happen. So playing with them is very laughable for me, it’s not with pressure. It’s just a laugh for me to play and enjoy when you play with those teams.
What if we put in Olivier Giroud, Romelu Lukaku and Omar Marmoush?How did you live this experience?
Playing against Giroud, Lukaku and Marmoush can be described as an intelligent experience for me, something wonderful. Lukaku is a very strong forward, Oliver Giroud, Marmoush too, who everyone knows, the joy is there. I wasn’t at all. After betting against Lukaku, I think I have no worries against any striker.
Is the Premier League an ambition?
The Premier League is a smart league, but I am a player who chooses to say ‘this is the league I need to play in, I need to play in the Premier League or I need to play in this league’. I’m just a player who loves football, I like 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 I’m making the right decision for myself and for my family.
In the Beyond you had the chance to leave Slavia, but you didn’t take it. What made you stay?
I had many opportunities to leave Slavia but I don’t think they were opportunities because I think it was not the right time and in the background I can feel it, as if some players ran with their instinct, others not all. Personally, I work with my instincts and I see what is good for me and what is not good for me. I am in a hurry to go anywhere, I would only like to play and enjoy football and when I get the right offer I will feel it strong and I will pass, that’s what I think.