Chidera Ejuke isn’t a name which’d be wholly familiar to many Liverpool fans, but had things worked out differently, he could’ve called Anfield his home.
In 2016, the Nigerian had a trial on Merseyside but was ultimately rejected by the Reds, although he’d eventually get his break in Europe with Valerenga in Norway and has now gone on to play in the Champions League with Royal Antwerp this season on loan from CSKA Moscow.
Now 25, the winger has opened up about the agony of his failed trial period at LFC, but he’s thankful for having gone through the experience, which he believes stood to him later in his career.
Ejuke told Het Nieuwsblad [via Sport Witness]: “I was allowed to train with the [Liverpool] youth [team] for a week. I started dreaming, I could see myself playing in the first team, but things didn’t go as expected.
“I wasn’t good enough, it turned out, and I had to start all over again. That was quite difficult, because you realise that you don’t get opportunities like that often. I felt like I had disappointed my family.
“But okay, that’s life. Get up and get going, for the love of the game. That experience came in handy when I was able to return to Europe two years later.”
Ejuke is far from alone in getting an opportunity on trial with Liverpool but ultimately not making the cut, so there’s absolutely no shame in missing out on getting a contract.
Rather than letting the disappointment overwhelm him, though, he used it as motivation to try his luck with a move to Europe again, and his opportunity duly came. For that, he’s to be applauded.
He’s gone on to play in the Eredivisie, Bundesliga and now the Champions League, with 38 goals in almost 200 senior club appearances across five European clubs (Transfermarkt).
Even had Liverpool offered terms to Ejuke, he’d have had to settle for being a squad player behind undisputed first-choice Sadio Mane on the left-hand side of Jurgen Klopp’s attack, so he might now view the rejection as a turn of fate which was better for him in the long run.
Considering the career he’s since carved out in Europe, any fears over disappointing his family have long since been dispelled, and we wish him the best in his future endeavours.
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