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Super Eagles and Brentford midfielder Frank Onyeka reveals plans to give back to the next generation of Nigerian football players exclusively to Pulse Sports Nigeria.
Super Eagles star Frank Onyeka is spending his off-season in Lagos and inspiring the next generation of Nigerian football players with his own story.
Onyeka is coming off the back of an impressive season with Brentford, finishing ninth on the 2022/23 Premier League table and is now enjoying his holidays back home in Lagos, Nigeria.
Pulse Sports Nigeria caught up with Onyeka in Surulere where he was watching a Lagos-based academy called Kings Spor FC in a training session and the 25-year-old exclusively revealed the reason behind his presence.
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Frank Onyeka gives back to the grassroots
“It’s holiday season so I just came here to watch the guys play and give something back to them like jerseys and boots, I just came here to watch the guys play,” Onyeka said explaining his motive for visiting the football pitch at Abalti Barracks in Surulere, Lagos.
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“You need to encourage them that are still playing football back home that they still have a future, they should just train hard, work hard and pray and by God’s everything will work out,” the midfielder said offering encouragement to the players.
His passion for the grassroots stem from his own story as Onyeka also started playing football under similar circumstances which he revealed exclusively to Pulse Sports.
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Frank Onyeka’s origin story
“I started in Benin, I don’t think most people know that I started playing football in Benin but yeah. I actually started from Benin, played in FC Ebedei then to Midtjylland then to Brentford so it all started in Benin, playing football in the streets barefoot,” Onyeka said.
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He went on to reveal his career path and where it all began for him by signing for his first club, Ogun-based FC Ebedei in Ijebu-Ode.
Onyeka revealed, “Churchill Oliseh the older brother of Sunday Oliseh came to Benin and hosted a four nations tournament and I was among the team and that time I was playing as a centre back but the coach called me and was like ‘you know what, you will play in midfield today because that is where they will see your talent’”
“For me, I think I was the worst player on the pitch that day because I had not played that position for a while but I just played and that’s how he just chose me for no reason and that’s how I came to FC Ebedei,” the Super Eagles star rounded up.
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From FC Ebedei, Onyeka joined FC Midtjylland in January 2016 and had a successful time in Denmark after which he was signed by Premier League side, Brentford for €10 million in the summer of 2021.
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