After finding playing time hard to come by in his debut season at Enyimba, pocket-sized midfield dynamo Chukwuka Onuwa seems to have found favour with head coach Usman Abd’Allah who has handed the player consecutive starts on the continent this season.
Signed from Lagos club MFM FC to great fanfare last season, the 22-year old struggled for game time as he adjusted to the realities of a new club and a new environment.
Often limited to cameo appearances – much to fans’ chagrin – Onuwa was restricted to just two starts in the regular season and featured once in five matches as Enyimba marched to a record eighth league title in the postseason.
And after the club signed no fewer than eleven players ahead of the 2019/2020 season, there were concerns about his place in the team.
But the midfield schemer has, however, managed to engineer a reversal in his fortunes and forced himself into Abd’Allah’s plans with consecutive starts against FC Rahimo and Al Hilal Omdurman in the CAF Champions League (CAFCL).
The reversal in his fortunes Onuwa told busybuddiesng.com has come about by him
“Last season, coming into a different club, a club like Enyimba, I’ve not been playing and I realised I need to step up my game, work very hard because the coach has a different philosophy and where I was coming from the philosophy is different from this,” Onuwa told busybuddiesng.com.
And having gotten into the team, the midfielder who admitted to joining Enyimba in order to improve his chances of playing for Nigeria says he plans on keeping his place in the team.
“So, I need to work very hard into this philosophy and now it is helping me this season and I want to keep the momentum high, keeping focusing and keep doing what I know how to do best and I pray I’m going to do the club proud and the country as well.”
