Football
Enyimba’s Chijioke Mbaoma Reveals Ambitions After Golden Boot Season Sparks Transfer Buzz
NPFL goal king Chijioke Mbaoma outlines his ambitions for the upcoming season after a stellar campaign with Enyimba.
Image Credits: Complete Sports
NPFL goal king, Chijioke Mbaoma has outlined his ambitions for the upcoming football season, SportsBoom.com reports.
Fresh off his sensational campaign for Enyimba in the topflight where he hit 17 goals to emerge the golden boot winner, Mbaoma says he's drawn interests from abroad on the back of that but is waiting to see what the summer has in store.
It is safe to say Chijioke Mbaoma is the hottest commodity in the Nigeria Professional Football League at the moment. From screamers, to headers, to solo efforts, the 21-year-old scores them all.
It is not often you get to see a player so smooth and comfortable adjusting fluidly to the rough-and-tumble tempo of the division, but the Enyimba marksman is hoping to replicate yet another barnstorming season to show his goals last term was no fluke.
Reflecting on a remarkable season
Speaking exclusively to SportsBoom.com in his base, Chijioke credited his exploits to cheer hard work and determination while maintaining he wants to build on that.
"Yes, that was a good season, and I thank God for giving me the strength and the determination to keep doing what I do best, and that is scoring goals", Chijioke told SportsBoom.com.
"Not just the goals; generally, I want to keep improving my game.”
"I put myself through a lot of work to do this. Maybe people will ask, how has he done that?" But I have to say it requires discipline and hard work. Sometimes, you keep trying and trying something to perfect a side of your game. It's not as easy as it might look maybe, you know. But I'm fine with that."
Image Credits: Soccernet.ng
Transfer interests?
Enyimba will be one of Nigeria's flag bearers in the continent when the 2024/25 CAF Confederations Cup rolls around, but Chijioke is not ruling out his chances of jumping ship.
"There has been interests from around Europe and within the continent, yes, and while the appeal of playing in the Confederations Cup is something I'm looking forward to, I can't say 100% that I will be here at the start of a new season. We have to look at some things and make a decision. That's all I can say for now."
Coming up short in the NPFL
After what looked like the tussle for the NPFL title will go down to the wire during the course of last season, Enugu Rangers emerged eventual winners with a game to spare.
Enyimba, Remo, and Shooting all appeared to be in it, but Chijioke feels things could have turned out differently for them but for their matchday 35 derby date with the champions at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, an encounter which saw the People's Elephants docked points after instigating a walkout as not to concede a last-minute penalty.
"You look back at it, [the Oriental Derby] and you feel maybe it could have being done differently. Maybe we could have done better. I don't know, but that significantly impacted our season. But Rangers did well, and they have to enjoy their achievement."
Quizzed on if he's ever thought about representing the Nigeria national teams, he added: "Of course, that will be a dream come true [representing the home-based Eagles or the Super Eagles] I actually have not had anyone reach out to me about that, but sometime in the future, who knows? All that matters to me at the moment, is to keep playing well for my club."
Since he broke loose from the shackles of long hours huddled up in a hot classroom learning Mandarin Chinese and Pinyin at the famous Confucius Institute, UNIZIK, Emmanuel Chinaza has embraced sports and football in particular, and it helped that he grew up in the football-crazy city of Anambra.