Nigerian international, Isaac Success is having a ball out there in London, where he laces boots for English Premier League side, Watford. Success, before landing it big in England, cut his professional soccer teeth with clubs in Italy where he played for Granada and Udinese.
The Edo-born striker has, however, not forgotten what it was like back home in Nigeria, years back, while trying to kickstart his soccer career. Success who, confessed that he comes from a home where his parents struggled to make ends meet, said truth be told, it was hunger and poverty combined that literally drove him into fighting with the last drop of his blood to make it in the round leather game. He bared his mind to Ephraim Nwosu in this exclusive interview.
Can you let us into how you started your professional football career?
Let me start by saying it was not easy at all. I was only given a loan deal at Udinese. The arrangement was that I should play on loan at Udinese from where Granada would monitor my progress closely.
How was the deal brokered?
It happened after the African Under-17 Cup of Nations, due to my brilliant performance at the tournament, I was privileged to work with FIFA licensed agent, Dominic Uchenna Egbukwu and his partner in France, Mr. Olivier Noah and luckily for me they got the deal for me in Italy.
How did you feel starting your professional career on loan from Udinese to Granada?
I really felt great and I was happy about the move. I waited and prayed for the move to become a reality.
Were you excited that you had another Nigerian, Odion Ighalo as teammate at Granada?
Sure! I was excited because he is my brother and a Benin boy like me for that matter. He welcomed me on my first day in camp, helped me to settle down and made me feel at home. Ighalo is a fantastic player. I admire him a lot and it was a dream come true playing with him in the same club.
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Are you setting any target for yourself at the end of this season?
Yes, of course. I am not only setting for myself, but my club as well. I’m happy here at Watford. They are paying my wages as well as taking care of my other needs, so I must have something special to offer the club. My dream is to score as many goals as possible and help Watford pick a Europa ticket at the end of the season. If we can’t finish in the top four to be part of UEFA Champions League, we should at least be in Europe and feature in Europa.
No doubt, you are nursing the ambition of featuring in your first Africa Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles to be held next year. How ready are you for the challenge of fighting for a shirt in Rohr’s team?
It is the dream of every player to play for his country at that level and I am not left out. I believe there is time for everything. I hope to keep working hard to enable me make the squad. Nigeria is blessed with a lot of talented players across the world, so, breaking into the team is not “moinmoin” as they say in local parlance.
Rohr is also a coach that would settle for the best purely on merit, so it behoves on me to convince him that I’m one of the players that can make him realise his ambition of doing well at AFCON. It would be a great honour to be among the 23 players to be selected for the tournament.
You have been in and out of the Watford squad as a result of injury and as a result of that you lost your first team shirt, how did you fight back for to regain your shirt?
It’s all about determination to succeed and also remaining focused. I knew the task facing me, so I had to make discipline my watchword and I kept working hard in training.
Let’s revisit the 2013 FIFA Under-17 World Cup where you were tipped to grab the top scorer award after winning it at the African level with eight goals but Kelechi Iheanacho stole the show. How did you feel about it?
Oh! I felt so bad about it especially, not playing in the final against Mexico, but as the assistant captain of the team I had no choice than to motivate my teammates to step up their game and go for the shield.
You have done so well of late, did you ever think you will make it big so soon as a footballer?
Honestly, I never thought I would be this successful. First and foremost, I want to thank Almighty God for making it possible. God used my coach at Golden Eaglets, Manu Garba to turn things around for me. Garba gave me the opportunity to prove myself in the team despite not having a godfather.
I remember training with my football academy (BJ Academy) one morning when a call came to inform me that there was a trial taking place in Calabar. I borrowed money to travel from Benin to Calabar, because I was confident that I had what it takes to impress the coaches.
When I arrived Calabar in company with three of my teammates from BJ, we were all stranded and there was no food to eat and no water to drink. It was that bad. I went to Golden Eaglets camp without a letter from anybody and without a dime to give the coach. At the end, Garba picked me purely on merit. Each time I remember the sorry situation back home, where I’m coming from, I go on my knees to thank God.