Luis Martin a Portugal based journalist says the career of Kelechi Nwakali would have been a lot better if not for the Nigerian press who heaped pressure on the 21 year old.
Nwakali was signed by Arsenal five years ago after his exploits for Nigeria at the 2015 Under-17 World Youth Championship where he was voted the Most Valuable Player of the tournament with Nigeria emerging as champions.
He made the step up to the U20 team where he still kept his role as captain and even with the U23 he was appointed as second captain as they fail to reach Rio 2016 Olympics just like the U20 team he captained that failed to reach the Africa U20 Cup of Nations.
Despite playing for Nigeria at all youth level and also a cap for the B team of the senior national team of Nigeria where he also trained with the first team, his career at club level is nothing to right home about.
Now at Huesca following his release from Arsenal, he is yet to be registered by the club which is the fourth club he has joined in his four years as a professional footballer and bar his first stint with MVV Maastricht he hasn’t delivered in the rest clubs he has played for.
” When he came to Portugal to join Porto B, a section of the Portuguese media felt it was disrespectful because of the extensive coverage he enjoyed in Nigeria. That raised expectations and sadly he didn’t reach the required height people expected “, he told Owngoalnigeria.com.
” It’s not like he did badly at Porto but the expectations were high based on the Nigerian media even Porto moved him to the first team severally but his level wasn’t there. He isn’t a bad player but he is certainly not as good as many in Nigeria believe.
” Nwakali is still a work in progress but at 21 time is running out on him to make a mark. It’s painful to admit but the Nigerian media stalled his progress. He is just a potential but they made him believe he is already a star and that stalled him as club expect him to perform instead to develop “.
