Ndidi: My father — a soldier — never wanted me to play football

Wilfred Ndidi, Super Eagles and Leicester City midfielder, says his family was against his decision to play football professionally.

According to Ndidi, his father, a soldier, wanted him to go to school.

Ndidi in an interview with Leicester Mercury spoke about his background and career progression thus far.

“My family were not really into football. My dad wanted me to go to school, not play football,” he said.

“My dad watched it on the television but he didn’t want me to play football. He is a soldier, but he didn’t want me to follow in his footsteps, he just wanted me to go to school.

“I did miss out on some school because of football. When I moved to Nath Boys academy, then I started to miss out on some of my schooling.”

The 20-year-old revealed that his family was yet to watch him play live.

“My family haven’t been over to see me play yet. They only see it on TV,” he said.

“I remember kicking a ball around as a child, but I was not in any training or anything. I just had a very small ball and I just kicked it around by my home.

“I was 14 when I joined Nath Boys Academy. We played in a competition and a scout from Genk was there. I was 16 or 17 when they came in for me.

“I was offered a trial at Genk and the president of Nath Boys came with me to Belgium for the trials.

“It was very different to what I was used to but before that I had been travelling with Nath Boys and we played in a tournament in Portugal.

“We had played against Hull City and Celtic, so it wasn’t completely new.”

Ndidi also narrated how he moved to Leicester without knowing that the English club was one of those keeping tabs on him.

“I was not told Leicester were watching me. I was told different clubs were watching me but I told my manager not to tell me because I didn’t want it in my head.

“I just wanted to play and if it comes then it is okay. I tried to manage myself so I wasn’t thinking too much about it.

“It was unbelievable what happened last season.

“No-one expected it. It was a fairytale. It didn’t help in my decision though. It was an easy decision to come to Leicester and to the Premier League.

“When I was going on to the pitch I was nervous, seeing players like Romelu Lukaku and the players I was used to seeing on television,” he said.

“But when the game started I was like ‘okay, let’s just do it.’

“That is how I try to do things. That is the way I live,” he added.