Super Eagles forward, Odion Ighalo, on Monday took to Instagram to reflect on his remarkable rise from the slums of Ajegunle in Lagos, Nigeria into a world beater.
Ighalo, 28, is currently one of his country’s biggest export, having had successful spells in Norway, Italy, Spain and England.
Currently plying his trade in the Chinese Super League (CSL) for Changchun Yatai, the meek goal poacher is living the dream of many young Nigerians.
But it hasn’t been this way for Ighalo.
Just a little over a decade ago, the striker was cutting his teeth in the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
A relatively young and unknown teenager from Ajegunle, in the suburbs of Lagos, was struggling to make ends meet playing for Julius Berger.
He could not afford earrings which was a fad among footballers back then that he had to make do with plaster on his ears.#
Even his high school girlfriend left him because he had nothing to offer her.
“I am a testimony, I knew with God everything is possible, I was just holding on to my God, my high school girlfriend left me then because I had nothing to offer her,” he wrote.
Now the forward, who has featured 12 times for the Super Eagles and married to Sonia for seven years, hopes other youngsters can take a leaf from his story.
“Never give up on your Dream. The same God that elevated me shall elevate you, hold on to him and trust his timing,” he admonished.
After starting his career at Prime and Julius Berger, he moved to Norway’s Lyn in 2007. A year later he was signed by Udinese, spending most of his tenure loaned out, notably at Granada, before signing for Watford in 2014.
Odion Ighalo made his debut for the English club in the first round of the Football League Cup at Stevenage on 12 August, going on to score a total of 33 goals in 82 appearances.
On 31 January 2017, Ighalo joined Chinese Super League club Changchun Yatai F.C. for a reported £20 million.
The man who used to play at the popular open field in Tolu, Ajegunle is known to be a devout Christian, who also often dedicates part of his wages for Nigerian charitable organisations to help impoverished children, schools and widows below the poverty line.
