Wilfred Ndidi
Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi (born 16 December 1996) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Leicester City and the Nigeria national team as a defensive midfielder.
Ndidi playing for Leicester City in 2017 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi[1] | ||
Date of birth | [2] | 16 December 1996||
Place of birth | Lagos, Nigeria | ||
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[3] | ||
Playing position(s) | Defensive midfielder | ||
Club information | |||
Current team | Leicester City | ||
Number | 25 | ||
Youth career | |||
Nath Boys Academy | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2015–2017 | Genk | 61 | (4) |
2017– | Leicester City | 113 | (6) |
National team‡ | |||
2013–2015 | Nigeria U20 | 7 | (0) |
2015– | Nigeria | 36 | (0) |
Honours
| |||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:13, 23 June 2020 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 07:50, 18 November 2019 (UTC) |
Club career
Genk
Ndidi made his Belgian Pro League debut with Genk on 31 January 2015 against Charleroi in a 1–0 away defeat. He played the first 74 minutes of the game, before being substituted for Jarne Vrijsen.[4]
During the Belgian League play-off game against Club Brugge, Ndidi scored a long-range goal, which was named the goal of the season in the Belgian league. After receiving an attempted-clearance outside the penalty box, he lofted the ball smoothly over an opposing player before unleashing a ferocious volley into the top right corner.[5][6] The ball was adjudged to be travelling at over 111 km/h.[7]
Leicester City
On 3 December 2016, Genk agreed a £17 million transfer deal with English champions Leicester City.[8][9] The deal was confirmed on 5 January 2017.[10]
Ndidi made his debut for the club on 7 January 2017, in a 2–1 win against Everton in the third round of the FA Cup.[11] He made his first Premier League start on 14 January 2017 against Chelsea at home in a 3–0 defeat.[12] In the English FA Cup game against Derby County on 8 February 2017, Ndidi came on in the first half of extra time and scored his first goal for Leicester through a long-range shot.[13] In a 3–1 win over Liverpool on 27 February 2017, Ndidi won 11 of his 14 tackles,[14] a feat bettered only by Chelsea's N'Golo Kanté who made 14 tackles against the same club in January.[15]
Ndidi was sent off for the first time in his career during Leicester's 3–0 home defeat to Crystal Palace on 16 December 2017.[16]
In the 2019–20 season,he scored the opener of the season for Leicester against Chelsea.[17]
International career
Ndidi was part of the Nigerian youth setup during his time at Nathaniel Boys of Lagos. While playing the African U-17 Championship with Nigeria, he was excluded along with two other players from the competition as a precaution, following an MRI age test that suggested he was just slightly above the threshold.[18] Notwithstanding, he joined up with his teammates in the U-20 team the following year, forming the bedrock of the midfield. He was called up to the Senior Nigeria national football team on 8 October 2015, making his debut in the friendly game against DR Congo, and playing again a few days later in the 3–0 win against Cameroon, when he replaced John Obi Mikel in the 63rd minute.[19]
He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[20]
In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[21] He was included in the African Cup of Nations 2019 squad[22] and played in Nigeria's first match against Burundi.[23]
Personal life
In May 2019, Ndidi married his longtime girlfriend Dinma Fortune in Abuja.[24]
In 2019, Ndidi started studying for a degree in Business and Management at De Montfort University.[25]
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 23 June 2020[26]
Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Genk | 2014–15 | Belgian Pro League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
2015–16 | Belgian Pro League | 36 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 43 | 4 | |
2016–17 | Belgian First Division A | 19 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | 34 | 3 | |
Total | 61 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2 | 83 | 7 | ||
Leicester City | 2016–17 | Premier League | 17 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 23 | 3 |
2017–18 | 33 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 1 | ||
2018–19 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 2 | ||
2019–20 | 25 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 2 | ||
Total | 113 | 6 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 132 | 8 | ||
Career total | 174 | 10 | 15 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 18 | 2 | 215 | 15 |
References
- "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
- "Wilfred Ndidi: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- "Jamie Vardy". Leicester City F.C. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
- "Charleri vs. Genk – 31 January 2015 – Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
- Football Score (20 April 2016). "Wilfred Ndidi Amazing Goal ● KRC Genk vs Club Brugge KV ● Belgium Jupiler League 20/04/2016" – via YouTube.
- "Hanni is Profvoetballer van het Jaar, ook Preud'homme, Bailey, Sels, Ndidi en Simons bekroond".
- "Footballeur Pro de l'année: Wilfred Ndidi, auteur du plus beau but".
- Seyi Daniels (23 December 2016). "7 FACTS you didn't know about Leicester City new signing Wilfred Ndidi". soccerblitz.com. Archived from the original on 24 December 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- "Leicester agree deal to sign Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi from Genk". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- "Wilfred Ndidi: New Signing Trains After Finalising Leicester City Transfer". lcfc.com. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
- McNulty, Phil (7 January 2017). "Everton 1–2 Leicester City". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- "Match Report – Leicester 0–3 Chelsea". www.lcfc.com. Leicester City F.C. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- "Ndidi first Leicester goal", espnfc.com, retrieved 8 February 2017
- Phil Dawkes (27 February 2017), Leicester City 3–1 Liverpool, BBC Sport, retrieved 3 June 2017
- Colin Udoh (28 February 2017), Leicester dynamo Wilfred Ndidi has potential to surpass N'Golo Kante, ESPN FC, retrieved 3 June 2017
- Shina Oludare (16 December 2017), Birthday boy Ndidi gets first career red against Crystal Palace, GOAL.COM, retrieved 17 December 2017
- "Chelsea Vs Leicester". Premier League.
- Baffour, Katherine (15 April 2013). "Three Nigerian Footballers Caught Age Cheating".
- "Nigeria v Cameroon Live Commentary & Result, 11/10/2015, Friendlies - Goal.com".
- Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- Shittu, Ibitoye (11 June 2019). "AFCON 2019: Iwobi, Ndidi, 18 other Nigerian stars who will be making debut". Legit.ng. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- Okogba, Emmanuel (24 June 2018). "Nigeria v Burundi player ratings: Aina shines, Mikel, Akpeyi underwhelm". Vanguard. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
- Okoroji, Chidozie (23 May 2019). "Wilfred Ndidi weds longtime girlfriend, Dinma in Abuja". Brila. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- Taiwo, Taiye (23 August 2019). "Ndidi: Leicester City midfielder studying business and management". Goal. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
- "W. Ndidi". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
- "Wilfred Ndidi". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
External links
- Wilfred Ndidi – FIFA competition record
- Wilfred Ndidi at Soccerway
- Wilfred Ndidi at Soccerbase
- Onyinye Ndidi at National-Football-Teams.com