Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye, is targeting immediate promotion to the Premier League with Watford, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Having joined Watford from Sparta Rotterdam at the start of this year, Okoye was loaned back to the Dutch club so he could finish the season playing for them.
He ended the campaign with 30 Eredivise appearances to his name, but he was also following Watford’s fortunes at the same time as they were relegated to the Championship.
The move to England fulfils a childhood dream for the keeper who was born in Dussledorf, in Germany.
“I grew up watching English football and it was always a dream to play in this country,”Okoye told Watford Observer.
“It does still feel like it’s a bit of dream even now, so I need a few weeks of being around the training ground to remind me that I’m here now and I’ve made the step to English football. “As a kid it was English football I wanted to play in and now I’m going to put the work in to make that happen.”
On the difference playing in Germany and Holland, the 22-year-old said, “I think the main differences between English football and the football I’ve played in are the fans and the stadium, as well as the history of English football. There is a lot of passion.
“There are also a lot of different styles and types of football within the English game. I’ve always thought it’s amazing.”
On his new head coach Rob Edwards the former Sparta goalie added, “My first impressions of him are very good,” said Okoye.
“I was reading a lot about him before I met him, and then this week in person it was even better. He took a lot of time to talk to all of us, he has time for all of us.
“We also need to perform for him. Having a coach who wants to get know us as people really helps because football is more than just a game and the position you play on the pitch. It’s more rounded than that, and it helps so much if the coach knows what sort of person you are and how you see football, your work, your life. This is what he is trying to figure out and I like that.”
