Eagles Young Star Okoye On Playing For The Same Clubs That Produced Barcelona, Arsenal GKs

Published: January 14, 2020

Rookie Super Eagles glovesman Maduka Okoye has spoken about playing for the same German clubs as Barcelona number one Marc-André ter Stegen and Arsenal star Bernd Leno.

Germany international Marc-André ter Stegen spent his formative years as a footballer with the youth team of Borussia Mönchengladbach, rising through the ranks before making his first team debut against Cologne whilst still a teenager.

Leno was also a teenager when he made his maiden appearance in the German Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen, and spent seven years at the club before joining Premier League side Arsenal in the summer of 2018.

Okoye played for the youth teams of Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen prior to his move to Fortuna Düsseldorf in 2017.

"During my youth I played in Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Mönchengladbach - this is where Leno and Marc-André ter Stegen played for in their youth,'' Okoye said to the Super Eagles Media Team.

"It was an important training for me, in a few years I think this will get me far".

Okoye went on to point out the differences between goalkeeping in Nigeria and Germany.

"In Germany it is a bit more technical, goalkeeping. Here it is harder and more physical, more of mental and spirit.

''It is good I have both sides so it is perfect balance," he concluded.

Although Okoye is still waiting to make his debut for the first team of Fortuna Dusseldorf, he was named in the matchday squad for a DFB Pokal clash vs Erzgebirge Aue in October 2019.

Igho Kingsley