Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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Unwritten: Haruna Babangida, the player who should have been the best in the world

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In an interview with The Athletic’s Adam Crafton in 2019, the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reminisced over his days as a teenager in the Barcelona academy. The Spanish coach recalled: “In our dorms at Barcelona, we had Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol. But I remember there was this guy called Haruna Babangida. Wow, at 15 he was the best player in the world. I cannot put into words how talented he was. He ended up in Greece, Cyprus and Russia. He should have been a star.”

Now, as part of The Athletic’s Unwritten series, we tracked down the Nigerian Babangida, now 37 years old and retired from professional football…

“The first thing to say is that Mikel was a lovely boy and a good friend,” Babangida begins. “We were in the same room and he was sleeping under me on those up-and-down bunk beds. Mikel has always done things right but he would never have believed he would become Arsenal manager. But I did see signs. He was a player who you knew understood the game. He made the right passes, gave the right instructions. He was a leader and even at the time, his style and mannerisms were similar to Pep Guardiola, who I also trained with a lot. You could tell that one day they would both be coaches.

“Anyway, I know exactly why Arteta would say to you that I was the best player in the world. And let me say this: if you have a chance to interview the other players from that era, ask them and they will tell you the same thing. This is 100 per cent sure. I know this because these players talked to me personally. They wanted to know why I had never been given a chance. They would say to me: ‘You have to play because the club are signing players who can’t even play as well as your left leg.’ For reference, I am right-footed.”
Babangida, second from right, with his team-mates at La Masia, including Iniesta, front centre, and Arteta, second from left

Babangida is not the first wonderkid to fall short of expectations but, as we spoke over the phone from his home in Nigeria, it is clear he believes that not only did he miss out but that his sport missed out, too, on a unique talent.

Babangida arrived at Barcelona in 1997, poached from Ajax, where his brother Tijani, a winger, spent seven years at the Dutch club. Yet in the late 1990s, Haruna was the talk of European football. Babangida was, until Alex Grimaldo in 2011, the youngest player to represent Barcelona’s B team. A quick search on YouTube provides grainy evidence of his quality. Babangida was a creative midfielder, explosive over the first few yards, sublime in his chipped finishes and imaginative in his passing. And yet, despite 42 goals in 110 appearances for Barcelona’s second string, he never made the competitive breakthrough to the first team. By 2004, his first permanent move away from Barcelona took him to the Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk.

So, what happened? The starting point appears to have been Louis van Gaal, who coached Barcelona between 1997 and 2000, before returning for the 2002-03 season. In between, neither Lorenzo Serra Ferrer or Carles Rexach lasted long enough to make an impact.

“Van Gaal does believe in young players,” Babangida explains. “But he is a very tough guy and he was very strict.”

Strict in what way? “He tried to control everything, inside the dressing room, outside the dressing room. I remember when I was training with the first team, Van Gaal had already learned the ringtone from my phone, and for all the players’ phones, so if mine went off, he was going crazy, crazy, crazy. He would say, ‘Why are you trying to bring the phone? Why is this person calling you?’ I was young so I had to accept it. He is a tough man.”

On the field, many creative players over the years have spoken of feeling anxious and restrained due to Van Gaal’s measured style of play. The schoolmasterly approach and prosaic possession game can sap confidence from players.

Adnan Januzaj, the former Manchester United player, once said of playing under Van Gaal: “As a footballer, if you think too much on the pitch, it is never good. You need instinct in your play. When the ball came to us, we had to stop and think, ‘What are we going to do with it here? I can’t lose the ball.'”

Babangida suffered similarly. He explains: “With Van Gaal, you do improve a lot because he wants everything to be perfect. He does not accept that you make so many mistakes in the game and it is true, it makes it hard. Every trainer likes a difference-maker in his team but with the style of Van Gaal, I don’t think he likes players who are chipping the ball or dribbling too much. He likes players for more simple passing.”

Babangida, Iniesta, Barcelona

Despite Van Gaal’s reservations, Babangida’s star continued to rise in the summer of 1998. Aged 15, he joined the coach on a pre-season tour of Holland and his team-mates quickly noticed his talent. For Babangida, it had been a sharp rise.

He says: “I remember it was difficult for every African boy to live in Europe during that time. I arrived at Barcelona and I was the only black guy in the whole academy. The problem I had was the language; I was alone and Spanish kids didn’t speak English. I had a personal language teacher. But this was not just, ‘Oh, he’s come from far away Africa, so it is hard.’ Even for some players from Spain, it was difficult. Andres Iniesta found it more difficult than me. His family drove to Barcelona from Albacete and when they left, he was always crying and we had to tell him, ‘Take it easy, it is OK.’ It was not only me. I remember Pepe Reina’s whole family kept coming and then he would be sad. My big family never came to Barcelona, only occasionally my brother.

“I watched the first team train and saw the games live in the Nou Camp. Then one day they told me, ”Tomorrow, don’t be late, you are training with the first team.’ It was difficult to sleep that night, knowing I was about to train with Rivaldo and Luis Figo.

“I was scared to enter the dressing room. Figo came up to me though and said, ‘Hey Haruna!’ He already heard about me because all the newspapers were talking about me. Was I scared to tackle them? I don’t tackle! They had to try to tackle me. I remember I was already in the team training and defenders like Sergi and Miguel Angel Nadal told me: ‘Haruna, believe me, if you run today, if you don’t pass the ball, we are going to kick you. So get the ball and pass the %$#@^& ball.’

“My style was: ‘Pass the ball to my legs and then we play.’ All the coaches used to say to the midfielders, ‘Get the ball and give it to Haruna.’ I believed in my dribble.”

If his words sound arrogant in print, it should be said they are rather more playful over the phone line. Yet there is no disguising his self-belief. On the tour, the interest intensified.

“When I first went on pre-season, we came to the dressing room and we were told to be at the airport at 4pm. After training, Barcelona came to every player with an envelope that contained cash. It was a bonus for the training camp. I opened it and saw a lot of pesetas. I was like, ‘Wow, what is this?’ Figo was watching me. He came over and said, ‘Come with me, do you have a bank account?’ He drove me to La Caixa bank to deposit the money. I think he thought I’d be silly with it. I kept a little in my pocket and then he took me to the airport. I had never seen money like it.

“On pre-season, I was in the newspaper every day… me, this young African boy. The last game we played was 0-0 and Van Gaal told me I wasn’t going to play. It was the 80th minute and Van Gaal told me to go on without warming up. I scored the winner and it went crazy. Then it became: ‘Will Haruna get a chance? Will it make life difficult for Figo?'”

As it transpired, Babangida did not trouble Figo. After Barcelona B, the most league appearances he made for any single club would be 54 in the colours of Apollon Limassol of Cyprus. At German club Mainz, he is best remembered for the game he failed to attend than the handful appearances he did make in a two-year spell.

He says: “I was not playing with the first team and they had told me to play in the second team. Thomas Tuchel, the PSG coach, was the second coach at the time. He said, ‘You are not playing for the first team but you have a game tomorrow with the second team at so-and-so time.’ So I said OK. Then the venue and time changed and nobody said nothing to me.

“I was living in the hotel very close to the actual destination. They were calling me saying, ‘Where are you?’ I said: ‘How?’ I spoke to the second trainer and he said we have training at this time! I took my things and went to the stadium but I was too late. They put it in the newspapers. I was really angry because it was twisted, suggesting I was late and had not presented myself. It was a $#% story! Not true!”

At Olympiakos, he had greater success, reuniting with the Brazilian Rivaldo. “I always believe that with my style of football, I need to be around very good players playing very good football. It is not easy when you leave Barcelona. You will not find players at the same level. It is a different way of thinking.

“Ukraine was a bit crazy. I had some offers from France through my agent when I was leaving Barcelona, but I was not happy with my agent at the time. So I went to Donetsk. Then I went to Olympiakos. People could not understand how I had gone from Barcelona to Ukraine. Olympiakos invited me to this pre-season tournament in Valencia. Rivaldo was already there at the time and he told Olympiakos, ‘He is a great player! Sign him, sign him.’ I went there and we played this game… the game was 1-1, I came on for 15 minutes, dribbled around the keeper and scored. The next day, we lost 3-2 against Udinese and I scored two goals. They signed me.”
Babangida recently with his former academy team-mate Iniesta

Does Babangida ever look back and think he may have been a problem, rather than coaches or a style of play? “Of course, at that time, you are young. You have many things in your head. But I think back to my trial for Barcelona: they decided they wanted me after just 20 minutes watching me.

“I always believed I would be a Barcelona first-team player, but it was not only me. Team-mates thought I was supposed to start playing at Barcelona. I scored or assisted in most games for the B team. In my first game against Osasuna, I scored two and made a goal for Luis Garcia, who went on to play for Liverpool.

“Everyone was talking about me, but the proper chance never came. I always heard from other people that I was unlucky. In every season, I was the best player in Barca B. I scored the most but it was always the same thing. I never had the chance. I would like to know from one of the coaches the real reason because nobody ever said anything to me.

“I do believe it could have been different with another coach. One hundred per cent. If it was Guardiola or Luis Enrique, for sure, and not because they knew me personally. They believe so much in talent and young players. No matter who is in the first team, if he is not as good as you, he won’t play. During my time, it was not the same. You need somebody who believes in you and trusts you.”

https://theathletic.com/1699829/2020/03 ... =babangida
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by olu »

There's an elephant in the room. Was he truly 15 when he signed for Barcelona? His older brother Tijani though more successful seemed to have a suspiciously short career as well. With that being said, not fitting in to your coaches style of play can also stifle a young players career.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by mcal »

...genes, not everyone is cut to be a star for long. Same approach to some American sports players. Many thrive at high school and college level, win numerous awards but fade at professional clubs. The road gets narrow as you move up.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by maceo4 »

Poor lad, one would think he would have been able to make it at one of the other clubs since he was so talented.

Actually seems like he was a very talented player

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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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olu wrote:There's an elephant in the room. Was he truly 15 when he signed for Barcelona? His older brother Tijani though more successful seemed to have a suspiciously short career as well. With that being said, not fitting in to your coaches style of play can also stifle a young players career.
By a "suspiciously short career", you mean playing in the Dutch top division Eredivisie for about eleven (11) seasons? Ok, carry on... :roll:
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by olu »

By age 28 or so Tijani Babangida was no longer a regular at Ajax which seems a little unusual to me.
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olu wrote:There's an elephant in the room. Was he truly 15 when he signed for Barcelona? His older brother Tijani though more successful seemed to have a suspiciously short career as well. With that being said, not fitting in to your coaches style of play can also stifle a young players career.
By a "suspiciously short career", you mean playing in the Dutch top division Eredivisie for about eleven (11) seasons? Ok, carry on... :roll:
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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maceo4 wrote:Poor lad, one would think he would have been able to make it at one of the other clubs since he was so talented.

Actually seems like he was a very talented player
Haruna was a supreme talent. I recall one of those pre-WC 1998 discussions on CE with a Spaniard, and Haruna being touted as "the future" of Barca.

Haruna was one of the standouts (if not the standout player) at the 1999 U20 AFCON, but because that team lost in the final to host Ghana on a Laryea Kingston goal (Haruna was injured in either the s-final against Mali or the final), the team was immediately DISBANDED with under a month before the 1999 U20 WYC (which Nigeria was determined to "host-and-win") and an almost entirely new team assembled under a new coach (then SE coach Thijs Libregts). A still injured Haruna was one of the only handful of players to survive the post-AYC cull, but the half-fit Haruna was barely an afterthought as two of the new players, Pius Ikedia and Julius Aghahowa, assumed supremacy in the new Flying Eagles' attack.

Haruna made only one more brief appearance on the national team scene, with his SOLITARY cap under Chukwu in the friendly in Tokyo, when under threat of being sued by the Japan Football Association, the NFA in desperation gathered up virtually ANY Nigeria footballer who could make it down to Tokyo by game day. SMH
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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What the NFF did to the u20 1999 Nigerian squad prior to the WYC was criminal. We lost the final of the AYC to a very good Ghanaian team after some ojoro from the ref and bcos of that, the crooks at the NFF disbanded the team. If we had retained that squad, that team could have made it all the way to the semifinals.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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bret- hart wrote:What the NFF did to the u20 1999 Nigerian squad prior to the WYC was criminal. We lost the final of the AYC to a very good Ghanaian team after some ojoro from the ref and bcos of that, the crooks at the NFF disbanded the team. If we had retained that squad, that team could have made it all the way to the semifinals.
Semifinals of what?
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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Was that not fanny amus wobbling and fumbling team? What was special about that team?
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by bret- hart »

Eaglezbeak wrote:
bret- hart wrote:What the NFF did to the u20 1999 Nigerian squad prior to the WYC was criminal. We lost the final of the AYC to a very good Ghanaian team after some ojoro from the ref and bcos of that, the crooks at the NFF disbanded the team. If we had retained that squad, that team could have made it all the way to the semifinals.
Semifinals of what?

The 1999 WYC
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by bret- hart »

gochino wrote:Was that not fanny amus wobbling and fumbling team? What was special about that team?

That was the 1995 team. The 1999 team had the likes of Yobo, JAG and Ikedia. If the NFF had not hastily disbanded the squad after the AYC, It would have been a more complete team.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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gochino wrote:Was that not fanny amus wobbling and fumbling team? What was special about that team?
Nope, Fanny Amun's team was at the 1995 U20 AFCON that we hosted in Lagos and Kaduna, and could only "wobble and fumble" our way to a third-place finish. :lol:

The 1999 squad included the likes of Yobo, Okunowo, Aghahowa, Ikedia, Robocop Afolabi, etc.

However, those were the days when an agent can apparently just show up and claim that his client was in the Celtic youth team and get him into the hurriedly-assembled squad (Obinna Okpala).
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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Gotti wrote:However, those were the days when an agent can apparently just show up and claim that his client was in the Celtic youth team and get him into the hurriedly-assembled squad (Obinna Okpala).
Kai. For 21 years I've thought he was in the Celtic youth team. It was a lie? Incredible.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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The YeyeMan wrote:
Gotti wrote:However, those were the days when an agent can apparently just show up and claim that his client was in the Celtic youth team and get him into the hurriedly-assembled squad (Obinna Okpala).
Kai. For 21 years I've thought he was in the Celtic youth team. It was a lie? Incredible.
Big lie, we were later told that he was related to the then Sports minister, Emeka Omeruah.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by Eaglezbeak »

Dammy wrote:
The YeyeMan wrote:
Gotti wrote:However, those were the days when an agent can apparently just show up and claim that his client was in the Celtic youth team and get him into the hurriedly-assembled squad (Obinna Okpala).
Kai. For 21 years I've thought he was in the Celtic youth team. It was a lie? Incredible.
Big lie, we were later told that he was related to the then Sports minister, Emeka Omeruah.
:rotf: The coaches knew that but the Nigerian public obviously didn’t take the internet seriously back then, nothing much has changed even now a ministers son who schools in China took the place of an actual footballer and it was reported that he plays for Valencia :rotf: Nigeria is just not a professional nation at all.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by john12 »

let's not act like nigeria is the only country that uses "connections" to get a job. have you ever heard a saying in "it's not about what you know, but who you know"? A lot of western countries follow the same modern
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by Adisboy »

Dammy wrote:
The YeyeMan wrote:
Gotti wrote:However, those were the days when an agent can apparently just show up and claim that his client was in the Celtic youth team and get him into the hurriedly-assembled squad (Obinna Okpala).
Kai. For 21 years I've thought he was in the Celtic youth team. It was a lie? Incredible.
Big lie, we were later told that he was related to the then Sports minister, Emeka Omeruah.
Yes it was a lie that Okpala was a Celtic youth team player, but it was also a lie that he was related to Emeka Omeruah. I know Obinna & his family personally & he has no connection with Omeruah. It was agents that got him in the team. Last time i spoke to his mom (probably 5 or 6 years ago), i heard he was a football agent himself in London.
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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LOOKS like a Breda
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

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The forgotten men of Nigerian football
Published April 5, 2020
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Rabiu, Dike and Muhammed

In this report, JOHNNY EDWARD takes a look at some of the country’s brightest football prospects considered as the future of Nigerian football who went into oblivion sooner than expected

Ibrahim Rabiu (Slovan Bratislava)

Once hyped as the next Austin Okocha, Rabiu, a natural number 10, is arguably one of the most travelled Nigerian footballers, rather than being the most accomplished, as predicted by some keen followers of the game, close to two decades ago.

At just 16, Rabiu was a special player for Nigeria at the 2007 U-17 World Cup in South Korea, scoring in the first match against France as the Golden Eaglets triumphed for a third time.

His performance at the tournament saw him being listed in The Times Football’s Top 50 Rising Stars.

Still 16, he was included in the Super Eagles squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations along with his U-17 teammate Haruna Lukman, but a groin injury prevented him from participating in the tournament.

In 2009, Rabiu helped the Flying Eagles win bronze at the African U-20 AFCON in Rwanda, netting against Ivory Coast and South Africa, with the Nigerian side securing a place in that year’s U-20 World Cup in Egypt, where he appeared in three matches, scoring against Germany in the 3-2 round of 16 loss.

In 2010, his U-20 coach Samson Siasia singled out Rabiu as one of only two players who could solve the Eagles’ midfield problems.

But the diminutive midfielder had to wait for another five years before earning his first senior cap on June 13, 2015, playing for 32 minutes in a 2-0 win over Chad in Kaduna in the 2017 AFCON qualifiers.

At club level, Rabiu joined Portuguese side Sporting CP shortly after the U-17 World Cup but never featured for the first team and his journey started with a loan deal to Real Massama, where he made only one appearance before joining Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven in 2011. But he had his contract terminated because of limited first-team action.

His travails continued, playing in Scotland for two years with Celtic and Kilmarnock. He managed one appearance for the Glasgow giants and 16 for the East Ayrshire side respectively, before he was released.

Currently with Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava, the 28-year-old featured in the Europa League this season, but he has fallen in the pecking order amongst the country’s brightest talents.

Sunday Mba (Unattached)

Sunday Mba, remember him? He is the home-based lad who was Nigeria’s hero at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, grabbing the winner in the final against Burkina Faso.

It still baffles the country’s ardent football faithful how the mercurial midfielder, once at the centre of a highly celebrated ownership clash between local giants Enugu Rangers and Warri Wolves, faded into oblivion less than two years after his AFCON heroics.

Mba scored two goals in four games as Nigeria won the continent’s football showpiece event in South Africa seven years ago.

He played all three games at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil, as the Super Eagles crashed out from the group stage.

He missed out on the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. At club level, Mba switched to French club CA Bastia in January 2014 after featuring for Enugu Rangers and Warri Wolves in the Nigeria Professional Football League.

He scored seven goals in 22 appearances in France, before he moved to Yeni Malatyaspor, where he was laid off by the Turkish side in 2017.
Chrisantus

Macauley Chrisantus (Hetten)

Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and even Real Madrid were all reportedly interested in signing Chrisantus after his impressive showing, firing Nigeria to the top prize at the 2007 U-17 FIFA World Cup.

The lanky striker was only denied pocketing both the Golden Shoe and Golden Ball by Toni Kroos, the current Real Madrid midfielder.

But ever since joining Hamburg, it’s been a downward movement for the lanky striker.

“I know very soon I will have the world calling my name again,” Chrisantus once said, in reply to his dwindling form.

But he has failed to match his words with on-field performances and has gone on a travelling adventure that has seen him feature for clubs in Germany, Belgium, Finland, Israel, Serbia, Scotland, India and Indonesia.

He is currently on the books of Hetten in Saudi Arabia.

Kingsley Udoh (Al-Najaf)

From being touted as the ‘New Taribo’ at 16, to playing for an Iraqi team, Al-Najaf FC at 28, perhaps no prodigy has suffered a more spectacular fall from grace than Kingsley Udoh. Capped by Nigeria at the U-17, U-20 and U-23 levels, stardom beckoned when the defender was on the verge of a move to Atletico Madrid, but the deal fell through.

However, Udoh failed to prove his worth and found himself in the Nigeria Professional Football League playing for Akwa United, Sunshine Stars and Kano Pillars before he faded into, only to team up with Al-Najaf in the Iraqi league.

Sani Emmanuel (Unattached)

A lightning-quick striker with amazing skills and decent goalscoring record for Nigeria’s U-17 and U-20 teams, Sani Emmanuel never made it to the senior level despite the huge promise he showed early in his career.

He was regarded as one of the future stars of the country after his five goals fired the Golden Eaglets to runners-up spot at the U-17 World Cup on home soil 11 years ago.

He joined Italian club Lazio from My People FC in 2012 after strings of good performances at the U-20 World Cup the previous year.

He was shipped out on loan to Salernitana and FC Biel-Bienne after his professionalism was questioned due to his weight problem, before he was unceremoniously released.

Emmanuel also had stints at Beitar Jerusalem and Oskarshamns AIK in the Swedish second division. At 26, he is currently without a club, having been released at the end of last season.

His career eventually hit the rocks after he copped a long-term Achilles injury that saw him quit the game unceremoniously.

Bright Dike (Unattached)

Two goals in his first three and only games for the Eagles earned the then Portland Timbers striker Bright Dike the nickname-New Sensation.

Big, strong and a menace to opposing defenders, he was seen as the solution to coach Stephen Keshi’s striking problems after his debut for the Eagles in a 3-1 win over Venezuela in Miami on November 14, 2012.

The 25-year-old didn’t score in that game, but his physicality and combative style, as well as an eye for goal didn’t go unnoticed.

But injuries had a devastating effect on his fledging career.

His first international goal came against Catalonia in January 2013, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the Eagles’ 2013 AFCON squad. Five weeks later, he suffered a torn knee ligament in a pre-season match against Seattle Sounders, ruling him out of action for six months.

He returned from the long-term injury to score his second goal in as many starts for the Eagles in their 2-2 friendly draw against Italy in November 2013. But he suffered another setback as he was ruled out of Nigeria’s 2014 World Cup squad after surgery on an Achilles tendon injury in February 2014.

Thereafter, the late Stephen Keshi and subsequent national team selectors never looked his way.

At club level, Dike struggled to revive his career, but only managed bit roles for Toronto FC, San Antonio Scorpions, Amkar Perm and Malaysian side, Pahang FA, who he last played for in 2017.

Ejike Uzoenyi (Zvijezda)

His record is amazing: two NPFL titles and Federation Cup winner with Enyimba, two PSL wins with South African giants Mamelodi Sundowns and Bidvest Wits, as well as the Nedbank Cup and the CAF Champions League with the former and a 2013 AFCON winners medal.

Add his personal honour, an MVP award at the 2014 African Nations Championship, where Nigeria emerged third, and you would agree Uzoenyi had the abilities to become one of the global stars of the game.

But truth is, the 33-year has struggled to impress since making his first move away from the domestic scene, despite his prodigious talent. And apart from his CHAN MVP award, he only managed a handful of games for the club titles he won abroad.

After moving from Enugu Rangers to Rennes, the midfielder managed just one appearance in Ligue 1 before stints with PSL sides Sundowns, Bidvest Wits, and Ajax Cape Town.

He joined his latest club Zvijezda 09 in the Bosnian Premier League in January, aged 31.

With the Eagles, Uzoenyi managed one substitute outing, coming on for Brown Ideye in the 72nd minute as the Nigerians hammered Mali 4-1 in the semi-final, on their way to a third AFCON triumph in South Africa in 2013.

However, Uzoenyi’s quality has never been in doubt by the Nigerian football faithful.

And the choice of the mesmerising left-footed winger as CHAN 2014 MVP didn’t come as a surprise either, as he scooped three Man of the Match awards at the tournament and also scored three goals dismantling opposing defences with ease.

The petite winger’s trickery and his goals saw him shine against Mozambique and South Africa, where he was only denied a hat trick by the crossbar. Then he produced another virtuoso display with a master-class showing against Morocco.

Musa Muhammed (HNK Gorica)

Held in high esteem after leading the Golden Eaglets to their fifth world title in UAE, Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir snapped Muhammed up but the right-back failed to replicate his performance at the cadet World Cup. He managed just three league games in three seasons for the Turkish club before loan spells with Zeljeznicar in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lokomotiv Plovdiv of Bulgaria. He moved permanently to HNK Gorica in 2018 but has failed to reignite the magic that once made him the darling of the home fans.

Muhammed made his Eagles debut against Mali in 2016 at 19. Coach Gernot Rohr was full of praises for the defender after his team’s 1-0 victory over Tanzania in Uyo in a 2017 AFCON qualifier.

But the Franco-German has constantly omitted the left-back as his rating continues to decline.

Chidebere Nwakali (Kalmar)

Chidebere Nwakali failed to make the grade at Manchester City after an outstanding tournament at the 2013 U-17 World Cup in UAE.

Nwakali played every single minute of the Golden Eaglets games during the tournament and was colossal for Manu Garba’s side, who went on to lift the title for the fourth time.

At just aged 23, Nwakali has since parted ways with Girona, IK Start, Sogndal, Aberdeen FC and Rakow Czestochowa. He signed with Kalmar FF last year.

Nnamdi Oduamadi {Unattached)

Former AC Milan striker Oduamadi got heads rolling with a hat trick against Tahiti at the 2013 Confederations Cup in Brazil.

That was basically the height he attained as he afterwards failed to seal a place in the national team.

He joined Milan from Genoa, first on loan in the 2010/11 season, playing just one game.

The San Siro giants then acquired his full services the next season, but Oduamadi, now 29, failed to play a single game in seven years at the club.

Loan spells within and outside Italy for first team football didn’t help his cause at Milan, forcing him to quit in 2018.

He last played club football for Tirana in the Albanian topflight in 2019.

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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by Cellular »

heavyd wrote:Unwritten: Haruna Babangida, the player who should have been the best in the world

Image
In an interview with The Athletic’s Adam Crafton in 2019, the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reminisced over his days as a teenager in the Barcelona academy. The Spanish coach recalled: “In our dorms at Barcelona, we had Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol. But I remember there was this guy called Haruna Babangida. Wow, at 15 he was the best player in the world. I cannot put into words how talented he was. He ended up in Greece, Cyprus and Russia. He should have been a star.”

Now, as part of The Athletic’s Unwritten series, we tracked down the Nigerian Babangida, now 37 years old and retired from professional football…

“The first thing to say is that Mikel was a lovely boy and a good friend,” Babangida begins. “We were in the same room and he was sleeping under me on those up-and-down bunk beds. Mikel has always done things right but he would never have believed he would become Arsenal manager. But I did see signs. He was a player who you knew understood the game. He made the right passes, gave the right instructions. He was a leader and even at the time, his style and mannerisms were similar to Pep Guardiola, who I also trained with a lot. You could tell that one day they would both be coaches.

“Anyway, I know exactly why Arteta would say to you that I was the best player in the world. And let me say this: if you have a chance to interview the other players from that era, ask them and they will tell you the same thing. This is 100 per cent sure. I know this because these players talked to me personally. They wanted to know why I had never been given a chance. They would say to me: ‘You have to play because the club are signing players who can’t even play as well as your left leg.’ For reference, I am right-footed.”
Babangida, second from right, with his team-mates at La Masia, including Iniesta, front centre, and Arteta, second from left

Babangida is not the first wonderkid to fall short of expectations but, as we spoke over the phone from his home in Nigeria, it is clear he believes that not only did he miss out but that his sport missed out, too, on a unique talent.

Babangida arrived at Barcelona in 1997, poached from Ajax, where his brother Tijani, a winger, spent seven years at the Dutch club. Yet in the late 1990s, Haruna was the talk of European football. Babangida was, until Alex Grimaldo in 2011, the youngest player to represent Barcelona’s B team. A quick search on YouTube provides grainy evidence of his quality. Babangida was a creative midfielder, explosive over the first few yards, sublime in his chipped finishes and imaginative in his passing. And yet, despite 42 goals in 110 appearances for Barcelona’s second string, he never made the competitive breakthrough to the first team. By 2004, his first permanent move away from Barcelona took him to the Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk.

So, what happened? The starting point appears to have been Louis van Gaal, who coached Barcelona between 1997 and 2000, before returning for the 2002-03 season. In between, neither Lorenzo Serra Ferrer or Carles Rexach lasted long enough to make an impact.

“Van Gaal does believe in young players,” Babangida explains. “But he is a very tough guy and he was very strict.”

Strict in what way? “He tried to control everything, inside the dressing room, outside the dressing room. I remember when I was training with the first team, Van Gaal had already learned the ringtone from my phone, and for all the players’ phones, so if mine went off, he was going crazy, crazy, crazy. He would say, ‘Why are you trying to bring the phone? Why is this person calling you?’ I was young so I had to accept it. He is a tough man.”

On the field, many creative players over the years have spoken of feeling anxious and restrained due to Van Gaal’s measured style of play. The schoolmasterly approach and prosaic possession game can sap confidence from players.

Adnan Januzaj, the former Manchester United player, once said of playing under Van Gaal: “As a footballer, if you think too much on the pitch, it is never good. You need instinct in your play. When the ball came to us, we had to stop and think, ‘What are we going to do with it here? I can’t lose the ball.'”

Babangida suffered similarly. He explains: “With Van Gaal, you do improve a lot because he wants everything to be perfect. He does not accept that you make so many mistakes in the game and it is true, it makes it hard. Every trainer likes a difference-maker in his team but with the style of Van Gaal, I don’t think he likes players who are chipping the ball or dribbling too much. He likes players for more simple passing.”

Babangida, Iniesta, Barcelona

Despite Van Gaal’s reservations, Babangida’s star continued to rise in the summer of 1998. Aged 15, he joined the coach on a pre-season tour of Holland and his team-mates quickly noticed his talent. For Babangida, it had been a sharp rise.

He says: “I remember it was difficult for every African boy to live in Europe during that time. I arrived at Barcelona and I was the only black guy in the whole academy. The problem I had was the language; I was alone and Spanish kids didn’t speak English. I had a personal language teacher. But this was not just, ‘Oh, he’s come from far away Africa, so it is hard.’ Even for some players from Spain, it was difficult. Andres Iniesta found it more difficult than me. His family drove to Barcelona from Albacete and when they left, he was always crying and we had to tell him, ‘Take it easy, it is OK.’ It was not only me. I remember Pepe Reina’s whole family kept coming and then he would be sad. My big family never came to Barcelona, only occasionally my brother.

“I watched the first team train and saw the games live in the Nou Camp. Then one day they told me, ”Tomorrow, don’t be late, you are training with the first team.’ It was difficult to sleep that night, knowing I was about to train with Rivaldo and Luis Figo.

“I was scared to enter the dressing room. Figo came up to me though and said, ‘Hey Haruna!’ He already heard about me because all the newspapers were talking about me. Was I scared to tackle them? I don’t tackle! They had to try to tackle me. I remember I was already in the team training and defenders like Sergi and Miguel Angel Nadal told me: ‘Haruna, believe me, if you run today, if you don’t pass the ball, we are going to kick you. So get the ball and pass the %$#@^& ball.’

“My style was: ‘Pass the ball to my legs and then we play.’ All the coaches used to say to the midfielders, ‘Get the ball and give it to Haruna.’ I believed in my dribble.”

If his words sound arrogant in print, it should be said they are rather more playful over the phone line. Yet there is no disguising his self-belief. On the tour, the interest intensified.

“When I first went on pre-season, we came to the dressing room and we were told to be at the airport at 4pm. After training, Barcelona came to every player with an envelope that contained cash. It was a bonus for the training camp. I opened it and saw a lot of pesetas. I was like, ‘Wow, what is this?’ Figo was watching me. He came over and said, ‘Come with me, do you have a bank account?’ He drove me to La Caixa bank to deposit the money. I think he thought I’d be silly with it. I kept a little in my pocket and then he took me to the airport. I had never seen money like it.

“On pre-season, I was in the newspaper every day… me, this young African boy. The last game we played was 0-0 and Van Gaal told me I wasn’t going to play. It was the 80th minute and Van Gaal told me to go on without warming up. I scored the winner and it went crazy. Then it became: ‘Will Haruna get a chance? Will it make life difficult for Figo?'”

As it transpired, Babangida did not trouble Figo. After Barcelona B, the most league appearances he made for any single club would be 54 in the colours of Apollon Limassol of Cyprus. At German club Mainz, he is best remembered for the game he failed to attend than the handful appearances he did make in a two-year spell.

He says: “I was not playing with the first team and they had told me to play in the second team. Thomas Tuchel, the PSG coach, was the second coach at the time. He said, ‘You are not playing for the first team but you have a game tomorrow with the second team at so-and-so time.’ So I said OK. Then the venue and time changed and nobody said nothing to me.

“I was living in the hotel very close to the actual destination. They were calling me saying, ‘Where are you?’ I said: ‘How?’ I spoke to the second trainer and he said we have training at this time! I took my things and went to the stadium but I was too late. They put it in the newspapers. I was really angry because it was twisted, suggesting I was late and had not presented myself. It was a $#% story! Not true!”

At Olympiakos, he had greater success, reuniting with the Brazilian Rivaldo. “I always believe that with my style of football, I need to be around very good players playing very good football. It is not easy when you leave Barcelona. You will not find players at the same level. It is a different way of thinking.

“Ukraine was a bit crazy. I had some offers from France through my agent when I was leaving Barcelona, but I was not happy with my agent at the time. So I went to Donetsk. Then I went to Olympiakos. People could not understand how I had gone from Barcelona to Ukraine. Olympiakos invited me to this pre-season tournament in Valencia. Rivaldo was already there at the time and he told Olympiakos, ‘He is a great player! Sign him, sign him.’ I went there and we played this game… the game was 1-1, I came on for 15 minutes, dribbled around the keeper and scored. The next day, we lost 3-2 against Udinese and I scored two goals. They signed me.”
Babangida recently with his former academy team-mate Iniesta

Does Babangida ever look back and think he may have been a problem, rather than coaches or a style of play? “Of course, at that time, you are young. You have many things in your head. But I think back to my trial for Barcelona: they decided they wanted me after just 20 minutes watching me.

“I always believed I would be a Barcelona first-team player, but it was not only me. Team-mates thought I was supposed to start playing at Barcelona. I scored or assisted in most games for the B team. In my first game against Osasuna, I scored two and made a goal for Luis Garcia, who went on to play for Liverpool.

“Everyone was talking about me, but the proper chance never came. I always heard from other people that I was unlucky. In every season, I was the best player in Barca B. I scored the most but it was always the same thing. I never had the chance. I would like to know from one of the coaches the real reason because nobody ever said anything to me.

“I do believe it could have been different with another coach. One hundred per cent. If it was Guardiola or Luis Enrique, for sure, and not because they knew me personally. They believe so much in talent and young players. No matter who is in the first team, if he is not as good as you, he won’t play. During my time, it was not the same. You need somebody who believes in you and trusts you.”

https://theathletic.com/1699829/2020/03 ... =babangida
This story breaks my heart. There are actually many "Haruna Babangidas" out there. Dude was very talented.

When one makes it, they should be grateful to God.

Soooooo many things have to fall in place for you... get your breaks. Get competent representation... and pray that you are ready when the opportunity comes calling.
THERE WAS A COUNTRY...

...can't cry more than the bereaved!

Well done is better than well said!!!
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by txj »

Cellular wrote:
heavyd wrote:Unwritten: Haruna Babangida, the player who should have been the best in the world

Image
In an interview with The Athletic’s Adam Crafton in 2019, the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta reminisced over his days as a teenager in the Barcelona academy. The Spanish coach recalled: “In our dorms at Barcelona, we had Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Andres Iniesta and Carles Puyol. But I remember there was this guy called Haruna Babangida. Wow, at 15 he was the best player in the world. I cannot put into words how talented he was. He ended up in Greece, Cyprus and Russia. He should have been a star.”

Now, as part of The Athletic’s Unwritten series, we tracked down the Nigerian Babangida, now 37 years old and retired from professional football…

“The first thing to say is that Mikel was a lovely boy and a good friend,” Babangida begins. “We were in the same room and he was sleeping under me on those up-and-down bunk beds. Mikel has always done things right but he would never have believed he would become Arsenal manager. But I did see signs. He was a player who you knew understood the game. He made the right passes, gave the right instructions. He was a leader and even at the time, his style and mannerisms were similar to Pep Guardiola, who I also trained with a lot. You could tell that one day they would both be coaches.

“Anyway, I know exactly why Arteta would say to you that I was the best player in the world. And let me say this: if you have a chance to interview the other players from that era, ask them and they will tell you the same thing. This is 100 per cent sure. I know this because these players talked to me personally. They wanted to know why I had never been given a chance. They would say to me: ‘You have to play because the club are signing players who can’t even play as well as your left leg.’ For reference, I am right-footed.”
Babangida, second from right, with his team-mates at La Masia, including Iniesta, front centre, and Arteta, second from left

Babangida is not the first wonderkid to fall short of expectations but, as we spoke over the phone from his home in Nigeria, it is clear he believes that not only did he miss out but that his sport missed out, too, on a unique talent.

Babangida arrived at Barcelona in 1997, poached from Ajax, where his brother Tijani, a winger, spent seven years at the Dutch club. Yet in the late 1990s, Haruna was the talk of European football. Babangida was, until Alex Grimaldo in 2011, the youngest player to represent Barcelona’s B team. A quick search on YouTube provides grainy evidence of his quality. Babangida was a creative midfielder, explosive over the first few yards, sublime in his chipped finishes and imaginative in his passing. And yet, despite 42 goals in 110 appearances for Barcelona’s second string, he never made the competitive breakthrough to the first team. By 2004, his first permanent move away from Barcelona took him to the Ukrainian side Metalurh Donetsk.

So, what happened? The starting point appears to have been Louis van Gaal, who coached Barcelona between 1997 and 2000, before returning for the 2002-03 season. In between, neither Lorenzo Serra Ferrer or Carles Rexach lasted long enough to make an impact.

“Van Gaal does believe in young players,” Babangida explains. “But he is a very tough guy and he was very strict.”

Strict in what way? “He tried to control everything, inside the dressing room, outside the dressing room. I remember when I was training with the first team, Van Gaal had already learned the ringtone from my phone, and for all the players’ phones, so if mine went off, he was going crazy, crazy, crazy. He would say, ‘Why are you trying to bring the phone? Why is this person calling you?’ I was young so I had to accept it. He is a tough man.”

On the field, many creative players over the years have spoken of feeling anxious and restrained due to Van Gaal’s measured style of play. The schoolmasterly approach and prosaic possession game can sap confidence from players.

Adnan Januzaj, the former Manchester United player, once said of playing under Van Gaal: “As a footballer, if you think too much on the pitch, it is never good. You need instinct in your play. When the ball came to us, we had to stop and think, ‘What are we going to do with it here? I can’t lose the ball.'”

Babangida suffered similarly. He explains: “With Van Gaal, you do improve a lot because he wants everything to be perfect. He does not accept that you make so many mistakes in the game and it is true, it makes it hard. Every trainer likes a difference-maker in his team but with the style of Van Gaal, I don’t think he likes players who are chipping the ball or dribbling too much. He likes players for more simple passing.”

Babangida, Iniesta, Barcelona

Despite Van Gaal’s reservations, Babangida’s star continued to rise in the summer of 1998. Aged 15, he joined the coach on a pre-season tour of Holland and his team-mates quickly noticed his talent. For Babangida, it had been a sharp rise.

He says: “I remember it was difficult for every African boy to live in Europe during that time. I arrived at Barcelona and I was the only black guy in the whole academy. The problem I had was the language; I was alone and Spanish kids didn’t speak English. I had a personal language teacher. But this was not just, ‘Oh, he’s come from far away Africa, so it is hard.’ Even for some players from Spain, it was difficult. Andres Iniesta found it more difficult than me. His family drove to Barcelona from Albacete and when they left, he was always crying and we had to tell him, ‘Take it easy, it is OK.’ It was not only me. I remember Pepe Reina’s whole family kept coming and then he would be sad. My big family never came to Barcelona, only occasionally my brother.

“I watched the first team train and saw the games live in the Nou Camp. Then one day they told me, ”Tomorrow, don’t be late, you are training with the first team.’ It was difficult to sleep that night, knowing I was about to train with Rivaldo and Luis Figo.

“I was scared to enter the dressing room. Figo came up to me though and said, ‘Hey Haruna!’ He already heard about me because all the newspapers were talking about me. Was I scared to tackle them? I don’t tackle! They had to try to tackle me. I remember I was already in the team training and defenders like Sergi and Miguel Angel Nadal told me: ‘Haruna, believe me, if you run today, if you don’t pass the ball, we are going to kick you. So get the ball and pass the %$#@^& ball.’

“My style was: ‘Pass the ball to my legs and then we play.’ All the coaches used to say to the midfielders, ‘Get the ball and give it to Haruna.’ I believed in my dribble.”

If his words sound arrogant in print, it should be said they are rather more playful over the phone line. Yet there is no disguising his self-belief. On the tour, the interest intensified.

“When I first went on pre-season, we came to the dressing room and we were told to be at the airport at 4pm. After training, Barcelona came to every player with an envelope that contained cash. It was a bonus for the training camp. I opened it and saw a lot of pesetas. I was like, ‘Wow, what is this?’ Figo was watching me. He came over and said, ‘Come with me, do you have a bank account?’ He drove me to La Caixa bank to deposit the money. I think he thought I’d be silly with it. I kept a little in my pocket and then he took me to the airport. I had never seen money like it.

“On pre-season, I was in the newspaper every day… me, this young African boy. The last game we played was 0-0 and Van Gaal told me I wasn’t going to play. It was the 80th minute and Van Gaal told me to go on without warming up. I scored the winner and it went crazy. Then it became: ‘Will Haruna get a chance? Will it make life difficult for Figo?'”

As it transpired, Babangida did not trouble Figo. After Barcelona B, the most league appearances he made for any single club would be 54 in the colours of Apollon Limassol of Cyprus. At German club Mainz, he is best remembered for the game he failed to attend than the handful appearances he did make in a two-year spell.

He says: “I was not playing with the first team and they had told me to play in the second team. Thomas Tuchel, the PSG coach, was the second coach at the time. He said, ‘You are not playing for the first team but you have a game tomorrow with the second team at so-and-so time.’ So I said OK. Then the venue and time changed and nobody said nothing to me.

“I was living in the hotel very close to the actual destination. They were calling me saying, ‘Where are you?’ I said: ‘How?’ I spoke to the second trainer and he said we have training at this time! I took my things and went to the stadium but I was too late. They put it in the newspapers. I was really angry because it was twisted, suggesting I was late and had not presented myself. It was a $#% story! Not true!”

At Olympiakos, he had greater success, reuniting with the Brazilian Rivaldo. “I always believe that with my style of football, I need to be around very good players playing very good football. It is not easy when you leave Barcelona. You will not find players at the same level. It is a different way of thinking.

“Ukraine was a bit crazy. I had some offers from France through my agent when I was leaving Barcelona, but I was not happy with my agent at the time. So I went to Donetsk. Then I went to Olympiakos. People could not understand how I had gone from Barcelona to Ukraine. Olympiakos invited me to this pre-season tournament in Valencia. Rivaldo was already there at the time and he told Olympiakos, ‘He is a great player! Sign him, sign him.’ I went there and we played this game… the game was 1-1, I came on for 15 minutes, dribbled around the keeper and scored. The next day, we lost 3-2 against Udinese and I scored two goals. They signed me.”
Babangida recently with his former academy team-mate Iniesta

Does Babangida ever look back and think he may have been a problem, rather than coaches or a style of play? “Of course, at that time, you are young. You have many things in your head. But I think back to my trial for Barcelona: they decided they wanted me after just 20 minutes watching me.

“I always believed I would be a Barcelona first-team player, but it was not only me. Team-mates thought I was supposed to start playing at Barcelona. I scored or assisted in most games for the B team. In my first game against Osasuna, I scored two and made a goal for Luis Garcia, who went on to play for Liverpool.

“Everyone was talking about me, but the proper chance never came. I always heard from other people that I was unlucky. In every season, I was the best player in Barca B. I scored the most but it was always the same thing. I never had the chance. I would like to know from one of the coaches the real reason because nobody ever said anything to me.

“I do believe it could have been different with another coach. One hundred per cent. If it was Guardiola or Luis Enrique, for sure, and not because they knew me personally. They believe so much in talent and young players. No matter who is in the first team, if he is not as good as you, he won’t play. During my time, it was not the same. You need somebody who believes in you and trusts you.”

https://theathletic.com/1699829/2020/03 ... =babangida
This story breaks my heart. There are actually many "Haruna Babangidas" out there. Dude was very talented.

When one makes it, they should be grateful to God.

Soooooo many things have to fall in place for you... get your breaks. Get competent representation... and pray that you are ready when the opportunity comes calling.

It always comes down to mentality.

But Van Gaal was a notoriously hard task master. He's always exemplified for me the huge potential and the limitations of the European reductionist philosophy of the game...
Form is temporary; Class is Permanent!
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We watched this very boring video, 500 times, of Sacchi doing defensive drills, using sticks and without the ball, with Maldini, Baresi and Albertini. We used to think before then that if the other players are better, you have to lose. After that we learned anything is possible – you can beat better teams by using tactics." Jurgen Klopp
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Re: Haruna Babangida - unfulfilled talent

Post by wiseone »

Wasn’t there an age scandal about him back in the day? His older (but less heralded) brother Tijani had a much better career at Ajax and played in the Champions League and for Nigeria. 🇳🇬

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