Watford of England’s new arrival, William Troost-Ekong is heaping praises on the new English Championship club’s former striker, Odion Jude Ighalo for painting a clear picture for him about The Hornets’ quality and pedigree, which he admits ultimately encouraged him to accept a move from Udinese of Italy to Vicarage Road, megasportsarena.com reports.
Speaking against the backdrop of a five-year-contract he signed for the former English Premier League side on Wednesday, Troost-Ekong acknowledged how Ighalo said many great things about The Hornets and the striker’s words helped convinced him that spending the next part of his career at Vicarage Road would be an ideal step to further advance his status and value.
After two seasons at Udinese, the 27-year-old Troost-Ekong, who has previously played in the youth team of Tottenham Hotspur of England as well as with Groningen and Utrecht of Holland, Haugesund of Denmark, Werder Bremen of Germany, KAA Gent of Belgium and Bursaspor of Turkey, is now looking for a new lease of life at the club Ighalo left in 2017.
He has teamed up for fast-rising Tom Dele-Bahiru and out of favour Isaac Success at Watford, who were only last season relegated from the EPL, such that Troost-Ekong would be expected to help Vladimir Ivic’s side regain their top-flight status at the end of this campaign in the lower tier of English football.
Just like Troost-Ekong, Ighalo joined Watford from Udinese and went on to help The Hornets win promotion to the English top echelon during the 2014/15 campaign, then moved to Changchun Yatai of China for £20m after three seasons in England, where he returned to at the start of this year on loan from another Chine club, Shanghai Greenland Shenhua.
The new arrival is now hoping to follow the same footsteps Ighalo took in helping Watford gain promotion back to the EPL, starting this Saturday when The Hornets make the trip to battle Ovie Ejaria and Michael Olise’s Reading at Madejski Stadium.
It would be an ideal opportunity for Troost-Ekong to show just how much he cherishes his move to Watford, especially after Ighalo put in some sweet words for his former club, and made the Holland-born Super Eagles’ assistant captain snub bids by other top clubs from across Europe.
He had reportedly been linked with a number of glamorous European clubs, but decided that Hertfordshire suited his aspirations for now and offered him the opportunity through which he could fulfill his ambition of featuring in the EPL, especially as the words of Ighalo helped him to make up his mind on his next destination.
He told Watford’s media team: “Ighalo used to be my roommate. I spoke to Odion last week. He only had good things to say about the club. He’s a great guy, a fantastic player and like a big brother for me.”
Troost-Ekong, who made 66 appearances for Udinese in two seasons at the club, following his arrival from Bursaspor in 2018, also took to social media to reveal his emotions about his official unveiling and tweeted: “New chapter Watford FC! Happy to be here and ready to get started!”
