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From there, he graduated to his school team, where he was discovered by a coach, also named Abdullahi, who invited him to join his academy.

“Coach Abdullahi was the referee in one of those matches I featured in when I was in JSS2. I can’t remember if I scored in that particular one, but he came to me after and said he wanted me to join his team. There, I trained every Saturday and Sunday, first with the junior team from noon to 3 pm, and then with the senior team from 3 pm to 6 pm,” the player said via the official website of Sporting Lagos FC.

But before he could dream of becoming a footballer, he faced the pressure of focussing on his studies at home, while the idea of making money from the sales of watermelons with his friends winked at him, and he couldn’t resist.

“In JSS 3, I decided to stop playing football to sell watermelons.

“It was not just my parents’ comments that made me stop playing, though. It was mainly my friends. During the break after our JSS3 exams, many of them began to sell watermelons. They would go to the trucks that brought watermelons and buy in bulk, like 200 watermelons for the group. When we were together, they’d laugh at me. ‘You, it’s only football, you know. Look at us, we’re making money!’ So, I thought, why not? I joined them. I made money. I used it to buy clothes. I did that for six months,” Abdullahi said.

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