Maduka Okoye has never shied away from acknowledging the attention that comes with his profile, but the Super Eagles goalkeeper insists none of it gets in the way of the job he is paid to do, Footynaija.com reports.
The Udinese shot-stopper, who has become something of a fan favourite for his presence both in goal and on social media, addressed the subject directly in a recent interview on the AySuga channel.
Okoye has become something of a viral sensation in recent times, with his looks regularly drawing comment online, a reality he has clearly made peace with rather than fought against.
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What stands out in his comments is the discipline he insists sits underneath all of it. For a goalkeeper competing for a starting role in one of the most demanding positions on the pitch, distraction is the one thing he says he refuses to entertain.
“I don’t have to deal with it because I don’t want to talk too much about me online,” he said.
“You cannot combine sport with too much women.”
He went on to explain that the attention is nothing new and has simply learned to keep it at arm’s length.
“It has always been a part of me because they have always been crazy about me. I don’t really pay them too much attention. But I appreciate them,” he added.
Okoye has spent his career managing exactly this kind of situation, splitting his attention between life in Serie A with Udinese and his place in Eric Chelle’s goalkeeping rotation for Nigeria.
His comments suggest a player who understands that staying sharp between the posts requires the same discipline off the pitch as on it, regardless of how much noise surrounds him.
