Former England defender Danny Mills believes Nigerian football icon Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha never played for Premier League heavyweights Arsenal or Manchester United, due to his style.
Okocha carved his name in Europe with spells at Eintracht Frankfurt and Fenerbahce before making a big move to Paris Saint-Germain in 1998. He later joined Bolton Wanderers in 2002, where his artistry, vision and flair lit up the Premier League and earned him cult-hero status. Yet, a move to one of the league’s dominant clubs never came.
Mills believes that Okocha’s free-spirited style of play may have worked against him when the biggest teams were making transfer decisions.
Speaking to Complete Sports, Mills said: “Can you imagine if he’d been in an Arsenal or at Man United of that time, you know, rather than Bolton, he could have been even better, you know, because, you know, better players.
“How he wasn’t at one of those clubs [Arsenal, Man United, etc], I’m not quite sure. Maybe the fact that he was so maverick and was such an individual, maybe some of the clubs looked at that and thought, ‘how do we accommodate him into a team’?”
The former Leeds and Manchester City right-back added that Okocha’s absence from a major side should never overshadow his brilliance. “But yeah, Jay-Jay Okocha was absolutely sensational,” Mills concluded.
During his four years at Bolton, Okocha became captain, inspired the club to memorable top-flight finishes, and left behind moments of magic that are still remembered fondly by Premier League fans.
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