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. He is known for his defensive prowess and long range strikes.[4][5]

Wilfred Ndidi
Ndidi playing for Leicester City in 2017
Personal information
Full name Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi[1]
Date of birth (1996-12-16) 16 December 1996[2]
Place of birth Lagos, Nigeria
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[3]
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 130 (7)
National team‡
2013–2015 Nigeria U20 7 (0)
2015– Nigeria 36 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 12:13, 20 January 2021 (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.[6]

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.[7][8] The ball was adjudged to be travelling at over 111 km/h.[9]

Leicester City

On 3 December 2016, Genk agreed a £17 million transfer deal with Leicester City.[10][11] The deal was confirmed on 5 January 2017.[12]

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.[13] He made his first Premier League start on 14 January 2017 against Chelsea at home in a 3–0 defeat.[14] 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.[15] In a 3–1 win over Liverpool on 27 February 2017, Ndidi won 11 of his 14 tackles,[16] a feat bettered only by Chelsea's N'Golo Kanté who made 14 tackles against the same club in January.[17]

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.[18]

In the 2019–20 season,he scored the opener of the season for Leicester against Chelsea.[19]

2020-21 season

On 13 September 2020, Ndidi started at centre-back in Leicester City's opening game of the 2020–21 Premier League campaign and kept a clean sheet in a 3–0 win away to West Bromwich Albion. Ndidi suffered an adductor injury on 20 September 2020 and was ruled out for 6–12 weeks.[20] He returned to action on 3 December in Leicester's Europa League loss to Zorya Luhansk.

On 19 January 2021, Ndidi scored his first goal of the season in Leicester City's Premier League fixture against Chelsea. The match eventually ended with Leicester beating their opponents 2–0.

International career
Ndidi with Nigeria against Argentina

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.[21] 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.[22]

He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[23]

In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[24] He was included in the African Cup of Nations 2019 squad[25] and played in Nigeria's first match against Burundi.[26]

Personal life

In May 2019, Ndidi married his longtime girlfriend Dinma Fortune in Abuja.[27]

In 2019, Ndidi started studying for a degree in Business and Management at De Montfort University.[28]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 19 January 2021[29]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup Europe Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Genk 2014–15 Pro League 6000——60
2015–16 Pro League 38450——434
2016–17 First Division A 19031—12[lower-alpha 2]2343
Total 63481—122837
Leicester City 2016–17 Premier League 17221004[lower-alpha 3]0233
2017–18 Premier League 3303120—381
2018–19 Premier League 3820020—402
2019–20 Premier League 3223040—392
2020–21 Premier League 10110002[lower-alpha 2]0131
Total 13079280601539
Career total 187111638018223616
  1. Includes Belgian Cup
  2. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
  3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League

International
Argentina vs Nigeria
As of match played 13 November 2019[30]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Nigeria 201520
201640
201770
2018100
2019130
Total360

References
  1. "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. 2 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "Wilfred Ndidi: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  3. "Jamie Vardy". Leicester City F.C. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  4. "Leicester City's Ndidi shares top tackler accolade with Manchester United's Wan-Bissaka". goal.com. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  5. "Watch Leicester's Ndidi score long-range screamer". uefa.com. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  6. "Charleri vs. Genk – 31 January 2015 – Soccerway". soccerway.com. Retrieved 1 February 2015.
  7. Football Score (20 April 2016). "Wilfred Ndidi Amazing Goal ● KRC Genk vs Club Brugge KV ● Belgium Jupiler League 20/04/2016" – via YouTube.
  8. "Hanni is Profvoetballer van het Jaar, ook Preud'homme, Bailey, Sels, Ndidi en Simons bekroond".
  9. "Footballeur Pro de l'année: Wilfred Ndidi, auteur du plus beau but".
  10. 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.
  11. "Leicester agree deal to sign Nigeria international Wilfred Ndidi from Genk". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  12. "Wilfred Ndidi: New Signing Trains After Finalising Leicester City Transfer". lcfc.com. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
  13. McNulty, Phil (7 January 2017). "Everton 1–2 Leicester City". www.bbc.co.uk/sport. BBC Sport. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  14. "Match Report – Leicester 0–3 Chelsea". www.lcfc.com. Leicester City F.C. 14 January 2017. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
  15. "Ndidi first Leicester goal", espnfc.com, retrieved 8 February 2017
  16. Phil Dawkes (27 February 2017), Leicester City 3–1 Liverpool, BBC Sport, retrieved 3 June 2017
  17. Colin Udoh (28 February 2017), Leicester dynamo Wilfred Ndidi has potential to surpass N'Golo Kante, ESPN FC, retrieved 3 June 2017
  18. Shina Oludare (16 December 2017), Birthday boy Ndidi gets first career red against Crystal Palace, GOAL.COM, retrieved 17 December 2017
  19. "Chelsea Vs Leicester". Premier League.
  20. "Rodgers Confirms Wilfred Ndidi Injury". www.lcfc.com. 23 September 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  21. Baffour, Katherine (15 April 2013). "Three Nigerian Footballers Caught Age Cheating".
  22. "Nigeria v Cameroon Live Commentary & Result, 11/10/2015, Friendlies - Goal.com".
  23. Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  24. Crawford, Stephen (4 June 2018). "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". Goal. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  25. Shittu, Ibitoye (11 June 2019). "AFCON 2019: Iwobi, Ndidi, 18 other Nigerian stars who will be making debut". Legit.ng. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  26. Okogba, Emmanuel (24 June 2018). "Nigeria v Burundi player ratings: Aina shines, Mikel, Akpeyi underwhelm". Vanguard. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  27. Okoroji, Chidozie (23 May 2019). "Wilfred Ndidi weds longtime girlfriend, Dinma in Abuja". Brila. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  28. Taiwo, Taiye (23 August 2019). "Ndidi: Leicester City midfielder studying business and management". Goal. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  29. "W. Ndidi". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 November 2018.
  30. Wilfred Ndidi at National-Football-Teams.com
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