Okoye signs five-year Watford contract, to join team after 2021-22 season

Super Eagles goalkeeper, Maduka Okoye has completed a permanent move to Premier League club Watford from Dutch outfit Sparta Rotterdam.

The 22-year-old shotstopper penned a five-and-a-half year deal with the Hornets that will begin on January 1, 2022.

Okoye would be joining his compatriots, William Troost-Ekong, Oghenekaro Etebo and Emmanuel Dennis at the club, as they seek to retain their topflight spot.

“Watford FC is pleased to announce that it has reached agreement to sign highly-rated young goalkeeper Maduka Okoye, on a five-and-a-half year deal that will begin on January 1, 2022,” read a statement on the club’s website on Monday.

“The Nigeria international joins the Hornets for an undisclosed fee from Eredivisie outfit Sparta Rotterdam, to where he will return on loan until the end of the 2021/22 campaign.

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“A regular starter for the Dutch club, Okoye has lined up between the sticks in each of their games so far this season, while he has made 13 appearances for his country since debuting in a 1-1 draw with Brazil in 2019.

“Born in Germany to a Nigerian father and German mother, the 22-year-old played in the youth ranks at Borussia Mönchengladbach, Bayer Leverkusen and Fortuna Düsseldorf before moving to Sparta Rotterdam in the summer of 2020.

“He won Sparta’s Player of the Season award last term for a string of stellar performances, helping his side claim an eighth-place finish in the league.”

“The 6ft 6in shot-stopper’s consistent displays for both club and country have seen him linked with some of Europe’s biggest clubs, but he has now put pen to paper on a long-term deal with the Golden Boys.”

Okoye is a member of the 24-man squad already invited by Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr for this month’s World Cup qualifiers against Liberia and Cape Verde.

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