I queried ‘agent’ who paid N150k for my U-17 W’Cup appearance – Otubanjo

Ex-junior international and FC Pyunik of Armenia striker, Yusuf Otubanjo, talks about his days in the Golden Eaglets and how he navigated playing football from Nigeria to Europe, in this interview with ABIODUN ADEWALE

It’s been five years for you in Armenia and you have been very prolific in the league. How is the playing experience and how does it feel to be one of the best players in the league?

Football is about statistics and I am glad to be able to deliver for my team. Armenia is a good place to play football because not so many footballers have their eyes on this league but there is nowhere you are that there is no football. What matters is how improved you are and I am doing that. Armenia is a nice place if you are looking for playing time and a chance to feel what it’s like to win titles. We also play in Europe and winning the league will always take you to the Europa League and that is an advantage for me. This is the first time I have stayed this long in a country. Mostly I have spent just two or three years in some countries. I see Armenia as a place where you can play without putting pressure on yourself or being worried if you know what you’re doing. In those five years, there have always been improvements in terms of standards.

You have won the league title with two different teams. You have won the best player and highest goal scorer awards and also set a new record as the best foreign goal scorer in 2024. How does it feel to have achieved all these?

In football, the league you are playing and what you are doing there is what people will look out for. So, winning the league, winning all these awards and playing in European competitions are the things that bring you out. You can’t be everywhere, but if you are doing well wherever you are, you should be proud of that. The records are there and they show that I’ve been improving.

So, in your 13-year sojourn across Europe, is there a particular league you still want to play in?

I started my professional career with Atletico Madrid, the third team. I had a contract with the second team but based on visa and all of that, I ended up playing in the third league for one and a half years. There is always a first experience and then I also had a problem which was not having an agent in Spain. At that time, my agent at home was telling me not to sign up for any team abroad so I wouldn’t become an ingrate. Based on that, I had to leave Spain but I would have loved to play in the La Liga because their style is more entertaining. In life, you never can tell where one will end up with my next movement.

Before travelling out, you had some stints with Julius Berger, Gateway and Crown FC. How did that prepare you for the journey?

I went on trial at Julius Berger immediately after my secondary school. They were playing in division one then and the team’s camp was in Abeokuta while our home ground was at Apapa Wharf. Imagine travelling from Lagos to Abeokuta every day to go and train. It was a good experience and all those things prepared me for the journey. I played there for a while before I went for the U-17 screening. Later, I joined Gateway and then moved to Crown FC. I left Gateway for Crown.

How did your parents allow you to play football at that level after secondary school?

It’s just talent and it got to a point they didn’t have a choice but to support me. I didn’t grow up to know my dad but my mum was always there and a lot of people used to come around to tell her to allow me to play football. She also allowed me to go to Ijebu Ode Grammar School where I played in the school team and also played for a club side.

What was your experience like in the U-17 team?

I have gone to the U-17 trials twice in 2009 before the last one worked out in 2009. I can’t remember the coach then but when I got there, I was selected among other players and they told us ‘You guys are the best, but we have another team, we will call you when we need you’ so I came back to Lagos. Around July, I went back again under another coach because they changed coaches three times before the turn of John Obu who eventually took us to the World Cup. The second time, they took our names and numbers down as the best 20. It didn’t work until John Obu took over and there was also a man who stood for me, his name was James Peter. When we got to Abuja for the screening, the initial team was in Gambia for some matches but this man kept us in the camp and he kept calling the coach that he had some good players and he was sure that we would beat the main team. After a few weeks, they came back and we played against them at the goal project and I scored, that was how I was picked to join the main team. We went back into camp and they came up with a 30-man list. During the announcement, they had called 29 names and I didn’t hear mine. I was the 30th player. It was such a story, and I tell you, playing for Nigeria is not just by talent. Talent aside, you have to have godfathers, sponsors and money.

Is that why you didn’t get enough playing time?

I would say because I joined the camp late but I had people who were ready to give the coach any amount he wanted to give me some playing time in the tournament. We had players in camp and we knew who was behind or sponsoring some of us. But me, from where? Ijebu Ode. Who knew me? Even my chairman at Julius Berger didn’t support me going there. It was a really difficult task but I still had a few people who could help me. I think against New Zealand, during round 16 of the World Cup, we were leading them 4-0 or 5-0, then I came on to play about 15 minutes as a midfielder not as a striker. The funniest thing about those 15 minutes is that I found out my man paid N150,000 for me to play. I was so angry and asked why he didn’t just give me the money instead of paying that kind of amount just for me to play 15 minutes. At the end of the day, it was a wholesome experience from the goal project then, I couldn’t even count the number of players that came for the trials before you could even make the 21-man list. So, when it comes to these age-grade teams, you have to be extremely prayerful and then work hard to make the team.

Did all these make you lose interest in playing for the national team again?

It would have been so nice if they kept to their promise as they said. After the U-17 we were automatically promoted to the U-20 directly but it had a clause. What they told us was that we must be in a good team and a good league. Leaving the U-17, you start looking for greener pastures to continue your career so you can also come back to play in the next national team. The truth is they messed up my head during the U-20. God so good, I joined Atletico Madrid in 2011 and the U-20 camp opened in March. I flew myself down to Nigeria only to find out that the coach didn’t include me in his plan after telling me to come. On getting there, they said they didn’t know I would come. It’s not like they paid for my flight, I had to fly back without waiting for them. That was even in preliminaries, it wasn’t even the main tournament yet and the players in camp weren’t playing for big teams. They were players I could compete with but I couldn’t even make the squad.

I still didn’t give up. As a young player, with a passion and the love of the country and having tasted it during the U-17, I wanted to have more so I could know I did something for the country as well but it’s painful I didn’t have the chance to play for Nigeria. However, I had my chance in the U-23 team under coach Austin Eaguavoen and Daniel Amokachi. It was the best experience for me. That was the only place I could say I felt the maturity of playing in the national team. I played with men while I was just like a U-20 player and I found my rhythm.

Did you ever expect the Super Eagles call-up after finding your feet in Europe?

You can’t imagine the kind of target I set for myself. I felt if I tried to be the highest goal scorer that they would look at me, which I achieved at some point. I’ve always been like if I do well wherever I am, I will get a chance and when my team won the league and played in the Champions League qualifiers and I also scored in the Conference League recently, I felt it was an opportunity for me to be seen but at the end of the day, nobody came calling.

Even when you scored the Europa Conference League Goal of the Group Stage in 2022/23?

That goal was nominated two times. It won the goal of the week and the best goal of the group stage. It was a big deal for me. There is a funny story about the goal too. I wrote UEFA myself, asking if the award would come with any prize but they said it doesn’t come with anything. That didn’t reduce my joy though and they always show the goal in the montage of the Conference League.

With over a decade in Europe, is there any country that ranks better for you than Armenia and how have you adapted to the lifestyle of the different countries you have lived in?

I would have said Austria but the experience in Armenia in the last five years has been unbeatable. My first Champions League game was against Copenhagen. That was when I was in Slovakia and I scored my first goal in that game. These things make me want more, I don’t want to slow down and I want to do better than the previous season. Shuffling from one place to another requires smartness and knowledge is wide. When I was in Spain, I tried to learn Spanish and the same applies to when I was in Slovakia, Austria and now Armenia, I understand a bit of every language in these countries.

Finally, what’s your target for this season and the best things you are still looking forward to in your career?

The standard of the league has advanced and there are more players but I want to win the league again and also win the highest goal scorer award because those are what separates the boys from the men. In terms of ambition, I don’t believe age slows anyone down, it’s a matter of your body. There are players younger than I am who have retired. I just want to keep going and doing what I love for the right money.