Super Eagles Goalkeeper Maduka Okoye Wins Player Of The Month Award At Udinese

Super  Eagles of Nigeria goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye has won Udinese’s Player of the Month Award for February after having one of the best runs of his football career.

Maduka Okoye is just coming out from a very difficult phase of his football career after losing his place in his club and international teams.

Recall that after the 24-year-old Nigerian goalkeeper made an error that contributed to the Super Eagles’ exit from the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon, the goalkeeper has found it impossible to retain his first spot in the team.

Things got more complicated for Maduka Okoye when former Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro, didn’t invite him for the just concluded 2023 AFCON in which Chippa United goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali made his name and grabbed the team’s first spot.

As he was struggling with the national team, Okoye was also struggling in Europe as he couldn’t get game time at Championship side, Watford.

His lack of game time forced him to move to Udinese on August 24, 2023. Initially, Okoye couldn’t make the first team at the Italian side until last January.

Okoye’s best month at the club came in February 2024 in which he helped the struggling team to win two games, draw once, and suffer one defeat. The Nigerian out-of-favour goalkeeper kept two clean sheets in the said month.

Due to that, before Udinese’s 2-0 defeat at home to Torino on Saturday, March 16, the Italian Serie A club presented him with the Player of the Month Award.

Note that the Nigeria international has made 13 Serie A appearances for the Italian club in which he conceded 18 goals. Football statistics platform, Opta, claimed that Maduka Okoye has never made an error leading to a goal since he joined Udinese.