Maduka Okoye
After a scintillating performance last season Sparta Rotterdam talked Maduka Okoye into signing a contract extension which keeps him at the club till 2025. With the rate at which top European clubs are monitoring the progress of the Nigerian safe hand, Sparta would need more than a contract extension to keep him at the Het Kasteel
Rumour was rife earlier this week that French Ligue 1 side, OGC Nice have a opened a line of communication with Super Eagles first choice goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye over a transfer in the near future but it was later debunked.
The Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper has been linked with many European teams but there have not been any negotiations with OGC Nice or any other club, amid speculation in the local and foreign press that the player’s agent is in southern France to thrash out a deal with his suitors.
Okoye is now looked after by former Feyenoord midfielder Wessel Weezenberg, who also handles the affairs of Super Eagles fullback Tyronne Ebuehi and Sparta Rotterdam striker of Nigerian descent Emanuel Emegha.
On the back of his excellent performances in 2020-2021, Sparta Rotterdam extended Okoye’s contract in August and they are hoping to make a tidy profit if he is sold before June 2025.
The German-born goalie played for the youth teams of Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Düsseldorf prior to his transfer to Sparta Rotterdam in July 2020.
Okoye kept his sixth clean sheet in a Nigeria jersey as the Super Eagles defeated Central African Republic 2-0 in a 2022 World Cup qualifier on Sunday.
The promising goalkeeper has been rewarded for his consistently excellent performances as he continues to be linked with a move away from the Netherlands.
According to Transfermarkt, Okoye now has a market value of €1 million, the highest mark the Sparta Rotterdam shot-stopper has ever hit.
Okoye’s profile has been on the rise since the youngster became a Nigerian international. The German-born goalie made his debut for the Super Eagles against Brazil in October 2019 when he was valued at €150,000 and still struggling at Fortuna Dusseldorf.
Okoye switched to Sparta Rotterdam in 2020 and has since become the number one goalkeeper for the Super Eagles.
The 22-year-old was in goal, keeping a clean sheet as the three-time AFCON kings defeated the Central African Republic in Douala on Sunday.
With Okoye now bearing a valuation of €1 million, only 19 goalkeepers born in 1999 and after have a higher market value than the native Rhinelander.
The rise in estimation for Okoye would be good news to Sparta, as the Eredivisie side has never sold a goalkeeper for a million Euros.
The shot-stopper was previously linked with a move to Ajax, but he inked a long-term extension to his contract that will see him stay in Rotterdam until 2025.
Still, his representatives are believed to be in contact with Ligue 1 side Nice, negotiating for a potential transfer in January.
Okoye has featured eight times for Sparta this term, conceding 16 goals.
Just days before Nigerian senior football team Coach Gernot Rohr named his squad for the Super Eagles’ final two games of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign, he declared Okoye as Nigeria’s first-choice goalkeeper.
“No. 1 is Maduka,” Rohr told ESPN. “These decisions, I take them with goalkeeper coach Alloy Agu because he is a specialist for goalkeeper training.
“Myself and Alloy, we agreed that it’s actually Maduka. We have the experienced Daniel Akpeyi doing well with this club in South Africa.
“We have the young Francis Uzoho coming back after injury, but he has to play also now not only on the bench. We have also Matthew Yakubu. There’s a good potential now because this position was a big problem for us so we have more now.”
Rohr’s comments then provided official confirmation of Okoye’s current status but it is by no means the end of the journey, as Nigeria have been on a goalkeeping merry-go-round since Vincent Enyeama’s abrupt retirement in 2016.
Uzoho was promoted to first choice by Rohr and was between the posts for Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup run, but a bad error against Seychelles during the 2019 AFCON qualifiers, which resulted in the Pirates scoring, led to him losing his place and temporarily demoted to the U-23 side with Akpeyi recycled back up.
Uzoho returned to good form, in time to feature in the 2019 AFCON third-place match, and he retained his place on the team until he suffered a serious injury during a friendly with Brazil in October 2019. He landed awkwardly and tore ankle ligaments, ruling him out for up to six months.
Okoye, barely 20 at the time, and who was on his first trip with the Nigerian team, was called in as a replacement and did a steady job in a 1-1 draw against the Selecao.
Rohr turned to Akpeyi for the start of the AFCON qualifiers but the keeper was injured playing for Kaizer Chiefs, and Okoye again stepped into the breach.
Okoye was in goal as Nigeria surrendered a 4-0 lead to draw 4-4 against Sierra Leone, but he did not take as much flak as would have been expected and redeemed himself in the return leg as Nigeria drew 0-0.
“You cannot drop a player because you say he plays one bad game,” Rohr told ESPN of the pressure he had faced to drop the youngster for the second leg.
“It is bad for his confidence.”
Reacting to the news that he is Nigeria’s number one goalkeeper, Okoye said: “I was very delighted and honoured because representing this beautiful country as the number one goalkeeper is something special.
“I am happy that Gernot Rohr chose me and I am going to pay back with good performance.”
Okoye was not in the good books of Super Eagles fans after a schoolboy performance that saw him concede four goals on matchday three of the AFCON qualifiers against Sierra Leone.
“The performance has to be good, the best has to be a clean sheet of course. I am going to work hard and prepare good for the matches.”
