Isaac Success Ajayi is an up and coming young footballer, playing for Watford football club. This week he signed a new five-year deal with the Hornets which means he will stay there until the year 2023.
The Nigerian star was born in Benin City, Nigeria and first played football at the BJ Foundation Academy. At the age of seventeen, he signed a five-year contract with the Italian side Udinese. He was supposed to start playing in January 2014 but there was a problem with a work permit, so he couldn’t play till March of 2014. Because of this, he joined Granada CF for the second part of the 2013/14 season, where he would be playing for their reserve team in Segunda Division. He had five appearances as a substitute scoring three goals in total until the end of the season.
In August of 2014, he was already in the first team and in December he scored his first goal for the team. In the 2014/15 he made 15 appearances for the first team and scored six goals. That earned him a permanent place in the first team for the next two seasons during which he made 56 appearances in all competitions and scored seven goals.
Isaac Success Ajayi (www.watfordfc.com)
In the summer of 2016, he signed for Watford in a five-year deal. His first season wasn’t productive as he made 21 appearances and scored only once. The season after he was loaned to Malaga where he didn’t feature much. He was back in the UK in the summer of 2018, ready for this season. So far, he’s played in 15 matches (started in six) and has three goals to his name, one in the Premiership and two in the Cup.
Internationally, he played a few games for the Golden Eaglets (Nigeria U-17 side) scoring seven goals in seven games before he was called to the U-20 side. He scored two goals in four games for them. Finally, he was noticed by the Nigerian coach Gernot Rohr and made his debut for the Super Eagles in 2017. So far, he has been a Super Eagle four times and is waiting for his first goal for the senior team.
The Watford management liked his improvement over the last couple of years and feel he can be an important player for them in the future. At the age of 22, he is still a young player and is yet to develop but with Watford and Nigeria believing in him, he should continue to advance game after game, year after year.