23-year-old reveals he owes ‘everything’ to Tottenham in an emotional interview

Former Tottenham Hotspur winger Nathan Oduwa has now spoken about his time at the club and reserved special praise for two coaches in particular.

Oduwa, who came to the club at the age of 11 and rose through the youth ranks, representing the club at different age levels.

The wide man, who failed to make a single appearance for the Spurs first team, had loan spells with Luton Town, Rangers, Colchester United and Peterborough United.

The Nigerian U-23 international left Spurs in the summer of 2017 for Slovenian PrvaLiga club Olimpija Ljubljana.

Oduwa, who now plays his football in Israel with Hapoel Hadera spoke about in glowing terms about his time at Spurs and said he learned a lot about the game while at the club.

Speaking to World Football Index, the former Spurs man said, “Tottenham Hotspur are now one of the biggest clubs in the world, as you can see they reached the Champions League final, and they are developing a lot of young players, the likes of Harry Winks, Kyle Walker-Peters and Josh Onomah.

“I learned a lot during my time there and I went on loan to various clubs, with Glasgow Rangers being the best of the bunch.

“Also, getting a chance to train with the first team ensured that I learned a lot both mentally and physically so I owe everything I learned at Tottenham.”

The 23-year-old also singled out late Ugo Ehiogu and former under-18s boss Matt Wells for pushing him to become the player he has.

When asked about the coaches who played the biggest role in his development, Oduwa said, “I would say Ugo Ehiogu, who sadly passed away in 2017. He had a massive role to play in me becoming successful and training with the first team and he helped me a lot.

“I would also mention Matt Wells at Tottenham Hotspur too. Those two coaches were constantly getting at me because they could see how much potential and raw talent I had, and that I needed pushing.

“They are the types of coaches that will show love at the right time, but the majority of the time they keep getting at you because they want you to achieve your potential, and it is disappointing for them when they see a player working at 50 per cent and just going through the motions.

“Maybe the player is doing well when they should be destroying things at a certain level. They are the two coaches that helped me the most in my career.”

Spurs Web Opinion

This is proof yet again that Ugo Ehiogu wasn’t just a great coach but also a classy man as no Spurs youngster seems to miss the chance to mention his role in their development. Given the reputation Ehiogu was building in youth coaching, losing him at such a young age was a major blow to English football.

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