Enyimba International goalkeeper, Fatau Dauda, has looked back at his decision to join the Aba club and put it all down to the competitiveness of the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) which he argued bodes well for his career progression.
The Ghanaian international goalkeeper has had stints in South Africa with Orlando Pirates and Chippa United but joined the twice African champions in Aba for reasons he insists are more favorable to his career.
The goalkeeper, who spoke with npfl.ng shortly after Enyimba claimed all three points in Sagamu against Remo Stars to mark their first full points on the road this season, described the NPFL as tough, competitive and highly tactical.
On Enyimba’s victory in Sagamu, Dauda says it shows the club are very good because winning on the road in the NPFL is a very tough call.
“The Nigeria Professional Football League is a highly tactical league where it is very difficult for a home team to lose because everybody wants to defend his team at home. So, if you manage to win a game on the road it’s because your team is good,” Dauda commented on their lone goal win.
On why he elected to play for African clubs and not for clubs in the more lucrative European leagues, the former Orlando Pirates said it is tough for African goalkeepers to secure offers from European clubs and supported his position by pointing to only two Africans in Spain and France.
In his words: “It’s very difficult for African goalkeepers to find top clubs in Europe, apart from Nigeria’s Vincent Enyeama in France and Cameroon’s Idriss Kameni in Spain there are no other African goalkeepers in any top league team in Europe and I don’t think it is the best to go out there and not get quality playing time.
“As a top goalkeeper you have to constantly play and I think that the Nigerian league is competitive enough for me to market myself to the world from here.”
The goalkeeper weighed in with a man-of-the-match performance to help the former Nigerian champions earn their first away win after 20 rounds of games.
“The three points here means so much to me and the club because when I came to Nigeria, my first five games with Enyimba were without a win and getting the points here in Sagamu is the perfect way to start the second part of the season.
“Hopefully we will build on this victory. We can’t go ahead of ourselves because there is still so much work to be done. It will be a great delight to win the league with Enyimba but like I said earlier, we have to work for it,” concluded Dauda.
Enyimba will next play Sunshine Stars in Akure in Match Day 21 of the 2016/2017 Nigerian Professional Football League as they continue their climb up the league table.
Source :npfl.ng
