Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Leicester City and the Nigeria national team as a midfielder. He is known for his versatility and can play across the back line and in midfield.
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He was born on December 16, 1996 in Lagos where he spent his youth years at Nath Boys Academy in Lagos where he won numerous accolades. As a football player, Ndid started out as a forward or striker. He then began to play as a central defender for Nigeria’s youth teams and at the 2013 African U-17 Championship.
Ndidi made his Belgian Pro League debut with Genk on 31 January 2015 against Charleroi in a 1–0 away defeat. He played the first 74 minutes of the game, before being substituted for Jarne Vrijsen. He played a full back role in that game before returning to the centre-back position he played at the Nath Boys academy. He displayed a wide range of passing and shooting and began to be deployed as a central midfielder for the rest of the season.
Ndidi scored a long-range goal, which was named the goal of the season in the Belgian league during the Belgian League play-off game against Club Brugge. He scored two more goals before the end of the play-offs including another volley from outside the box against Anderlecht in a 5–2 win. He received the award as the third-best young player in the Belgian league for the 2015–16 season.
On 3 December 2016, Genk agreed a £17 million transfer deal with English champions Leicester City. At Leicester City, Ndidi made his debut on 7 January 2017, in a 2–1 win against Everton in the third round of the FA Cup. He made his first Premier League start on 14 January 2017 against Chelsea at home in a 3–0 defeat. In the English FA Cup game against Derby County on 8 February 2017, Ndidi came on in the first half of extra time and scored his first goal for Leicester through a long-range shot. In a 3–1 win over Liverpool on 27 February 2017, Ndidi won 11 of his 14 tackles, a feat bettered only by Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté who made 14 tackles against the same club in January.
Ndidi got his first career red card in a 3–0 loss to Crystal Palace on 16 December 2017 (his birthday).
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As an international player, Ndidi was excluded along with two other players from the competition in the African U-17 Championship with Nigeria as a precaution, following an MRI age test that suggested he was just slightly above the threshold. Notwithstanding, he joined up with his teammates in the U-20 team the following year, forming the bedrock of the midfield.
On 8 October 2015, He was called up to the Senior Nigeria national football team making his debut in the friendly game against DR Congo, and playing again a few days later in the 3–0 win against Cameroon, when he replaced John Obi Mikel in the 63rd minute. He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. In May 2018, Ndidi was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30 man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
