Simeon ‘Simy’ Nwankwo is one player who will always be mentioned when it comes to Nigerians who made their marks in the Italian league.
Despite only featuring for modest sides like Salernitana and Crotone, Nwankwo showed his quality by scoring goals in the lower division as well as the Italian topflight, the Serie A.
In this exclusive interview with Completesports.com’s JAMES AGBEREBI, the 33-year-old, who is currently in Nigeria, talked about his exploits in the Italian league, the transfer sagas involving Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman, the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, his football idol and other interesting stuff.
The Italian leagues have commenced, the summer transfer window is still on and you are back home. Is there something in the pipeline as per a transfer, What’s happening?
At the moment I’m free of contract but in transfer talks we don’t have to say much, I don’t know what is going on it’s my agent that will say what the situation is but I know that I just have to wait and be patient and hopefully the right opportunity will be in place.
Now it’s all about talks and trying to find the right solution so we have to be patient and see what happens in the next couple of days.
Let’s look at your performance for last season at Salernitana, compared to previous seasons how would you rate it?
It was a tough one we started more or less on a good note full of confidence because after relegation from the top league we tried to build something to get back up but it is never easy when you have to change a lot. Coming down from a different league a lot of players not happy, some trying to go away, new ones coming in meeting a difficult situation because the atmosphere was not really that easy it was tough, people were angry because of the relegation. So, things didn’t go as planned then we had to change coaches in the course of the season, bringing in new ideas every two, three months.
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This affected us, Affected the whole atmosphere but on an individual note I just had to do the same thing I had done all the years I had to be strong, consistent, tried to play the best I can and contribute the little I can, couple of goals here and there but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter because it’s a collective game and all that matters is the team’s result that we were able to achieve together. I wouldn’t say it’s a positive one but there are lots of lessons to learn and it made us stronger for sure.
In the 2019/2020 season, during your time at Crotone, you became the first African to emerge top scorer in an Italian professional league. Talk us through that campaign?
It was just a normal football season I was in a team where things were different, the energy was more on the positive side the team had been around for a couple of years, good connection with the team, the fans with the coach. We had a good season on a collective level which was the most important thing, accolades come out for the individuals when the collective works. If you don’t play well as a team it is difficult for an individual player to do well.
But the important thing was not the top scorer award but winning the league (Serie B) and gaining promotion to the first division because that was the year of COVID and there were lots of challenges but we were strong, we maintained our attitude. Even during the lockdown we didn’t stop and I came out even stronger after the lockdown when I was able to have a good run towards the end and being able to hear about the record and what it meant I think it’s something I will enjoy at the end of my career.
And the following season (2020/2021) you scored 20 goals in Serie A and despite suffering relegation, it was expected that the big clubs would be interested but it didn’t pan out that way, what happened?
Football is a game where you can’t predict nothing but I am a grateful guy because I know where I started and where I came from and know how far I’ve come and I’m grateful for every situation, every opportunity I’ve had, every club I’ve played for and I don’t have any thing like sad memories.
I got to where I got to and I believe that was what I was meant to achieve. I met new people built up something important, I learnt a lot I contributed a lot and that’s all that matters, I don’t really care how high or low you go. It was a good year, a good run and it was my last year in Crotone as well, 20 goals fantastic but at the end we got relegated and back to the same thing when you don’t do well as a team it doesn’t matter what you do as an individual.
Were there top clubs who showed interest after your impressive performance in Serie A that season?
Yes, there were some contacts but I don’t decide alone in situations like this, my club have to do the negotiations and decide which market they want to go, I don’t want to go fighting with my club, I spent five years there I have lots of good memories there I’ve never fought any club in my life. Crotone was a family for me I became a father there it’s impossible to fight with them I ended up in Salernitana, that season it was good I went back up to the Serie A so I can’t complain.
For some time now Nigerian strikers have been getting interests and also doing well for top Italian clubs. The likes of Victor Osimhen, Ademola Lookman, Victor Boniface almost joined Milan. What could be the reason for this interests?
It is a generational thing and Nigeria happens to be blessed with lots of strikers at the moment. Serie A is a very tactical league, one of the toughest leagues for strikers because it’s very compact, tactical awareness and I think it’s number one in Europe so my run was good, before me there were lots of Nigerian strikers, Obafemi Martins did his thing, Nwankwo Kanu did his thing and after I did my good run Victor Osimhen dominated, he is one of the best and most powerful strikers alive today and Ademola Lookman has been phenomenal though he’s not an out and out striker but he’s also like special, current African Footballer of the Year.
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I think in the next couple of years more Nigerians are going to come in because now they understand more and it’s a good generation of top strikers and the competitiveness that is coming out especially in the national team where you have a lot of numbers to choose from, Victor Boniface would have been a perfect fit (in Serie A) because he’s technically gifted to play in small spaces, in a very good shape physically so in the next couple of years more Nigerians will come in.
Let’s look at the recent transfer issues involving Italian clubs and top Nigerian stars. First it was Osimhen and Napoli now it’s Lookman and Atalanta. Why does this keep happening?
It’s a sensitive one, from the outside it’s very difficult to know what’s going on but also it’s a situation where we as footballers we have dreams, we have ambitions and when we are in a team, I’m talking now as an African, a Nigerian because I know how we think and how we react to things, when we are in a team we give our best, we give everything and at the same time we demand you show us respect.
If I give you a lot I expect when I make a demand, something that I feel is good for me that you too should also compromise and be like in partnership with me. But it’s not only with Nigerian players you can see the situation with Alexander Isak, he has given his best and it’s because he’s a good player that’s why all this is happening, if he’s not having a good season the club would want him out. Now he’s doing well and wants the next step in his career now the talk is that he’s not being grateful.
Like I said I had my own situation but I didn’t fight with the club for my own personal reasons, the lads in the last couple of years it’s been crazy I think it’s been very unfair. Napoli was very unfair to Victor because you can’t tell me that after 33 years someone comes in and brings you a trophy, because he’s someone I know very well, I know how much he gave. People talk about how much Napoli gave him but they forgot to talk about how much he gave, and when he made a demand they tried to make it difficult and people outside didn’t know what was going on it’s always the player’s fault, we are use to it but at the end of the day he’s happy where he is that’s all that matters.
For Ademola, he has given everything, scored a hat-trick in the Europa League final and wanted the next step for his career. Last year it was PSG he was blocked now it’s Inter Milan they are blocking it. I think it’s a shame when clubs behave like this, you have to come to a compromise with the players and you have to also look at their dreams, you don’t have to be selfish to think only about yourself because if he’s not doing well like not giving 100 percent he would have been pushed out. But when he gives you everything for three years and makes a demand to step up I think the club should have the sensibility to understand that he’s also a man and we play with numbers like age so on a personal note it’s shameful with what is going on.
And what advise would you give Ademola Lookman now that he’s back with Atalanta?
I don’t think Ademola needs any advise, he’s a top professional, relationship with the fans would be what it would be, the fans would always be selfish, everywhere in the world. They don’t care about you, as long as you are winning for them you owe them, I’m use to it, even in the big clubs the small clubs even in Nigeria it’s the same everywhere, the fans don’t Know the dynamics of things going on inside and at the end of the day they will only say what they see in the news. Somebody can bring up a news that’s not true and once the fans read it they go with it.
Like I said I don’t have to tell Ademola anything, he’s a top professional and would know how to handle the situation, he has his team, his family, current African Player of the Year and deserves total and maximum respect from every party involve, the club, the fans, he is no player less than anybody and should be treated as one of the top players in the world.
Now, let’s look at your Super Eagles career, what was it like when you made the squad to the FIFA World Cup in 2018?
It was a dream come true because as a young kid growing up in the streets of Nigeria you know football is one of the things that unites all of us, when Nigeria is playing the whole country stands still and to be able to seat there wear the Jersey and to step on as a footballer I think that’s everything for me. Unfortunately, I didn’t stay long in the Super Eagles even in my best years I was not even considered, I was playing in one of the top five leagues in the world scoring goals but was never considered. Nigeria has been blessed in the last 10 years with lots of good strikers. When I came in there was Odion Ighalo who was having a fantastic time.
But I enjoyed every bit I spent with the guys and tried to give all I could and at the end of the day you have to be proud to represent your country because it’s the biggest thing for any football player to be part of the World Cup which is the biggest sporting festival in the world and I can’t change it for anything.
The Super Eagles was so close to drawing with Argentina in their final group tie in 2018 which would have seen them qualify for the round of 16 but conceded a late goal and eventually lost 2-1. What do you think should have been done differently in that game?
We were not under pressure, Argentina were under pressure because in that phase of the game and we were having the best 30 minutes. After Ighalo went in we were having the best 30 minutes of our game in the World Cup, pressing one of the biggest team in the world, creating chances and we were so close but we were quite unlucky with the goal. It’s easy to talk about it when it’s gone but at the end of the day we had a good outing, we were so close but unfortunately we couldn’t make it through.
After the 2018 World Cup a lot of Nigerian fans expected to see more of you in the Super Eagles team but you were never called up again, any reason for this?
I got relegated that year and after the World Cup we had a season in the second division and that was when I started the best phase of my career I had three years where I scored like 55 goals, I did 15, 20 and another 20 goals back-to-back but was never considered but I never lost sleep over it.
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The coaches had other choices to make, Osimhen came up, Paul Onuachu was banging in goals. Do I feel I deserved another chance to compete, yes, do I feel I would have added more, yes. But I don’t have to complain about anything like I said being a coach is not easy, the coach has to make his choices and the guys we had then were doing well, Osimhen, Ighalo, Onuachu, Terem Moffi and Cyriel Dessers. So it’s fine because Nigeria is blessed and I’m a fan now and always in contact with the team.
There is the possibility of the Super Eagles not qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Do you have any hope they can still pull it off?
Yes, I believe strongly that we can because we have the resources but it all boils down to how we prepare. People think football is just about the players, no, it’s about the structure, preparations, culture and that’s where we have to go back to, we have to go back to the culture because we’ve lost the touch with our culture and you can perceive it from the fans. I don’t think the country stops just like it use to stop back in the years and this is to show you how much we’ve lost touch with it.
Do we have the players to pull this off 100 percent and don’t forget we still have one of the best strikers in the world, Osimhen, we still have the African Player of the Year, one of the best African defenders in Troost-Ekong, one of the best wingers in Moses Simon, Wilfred Ndidi in the midfield. But we still need to put all the components together, preparation and organisation have to be right, but like I said I’m confident we can still do it.
We hear footballers talk about who inspired them. In your own case who was your inspiration?
The person who inspired me was Papilo Nwankwo Kanu, he was my idol, my reference point and the story about his heart surgery and coming back to do what he did? it’s not for everybody. People don’t know how much he went through, I met him during the 2018 World Cup, his story changed everything for me.
Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria during the 2004 Afcon semifinal match between Tunisia and Nigeria
Then there is Emmanuel Adebayor, a special person to me who played for my boyhood club Arsenal and gave us big memories. So for me it’s Adebayor and Kanu but Kanu was my reference point.
Lastly, what’s your advise to upcoming Nigerian players aspiring to be successful in the game?
They should drop their phones and go and play football, they should go and learn football on the streets because now all the kids are with their phones at home waiting for a Synthetic pitch where they will play. This is Nigeria we grew up on the streets, that’s the spirit we need. The players who make it to the top are just the one percent, you have to be special and if you have the talent but don’t have the will you wouldn’t make it.
People think going out to play football is just fun, no, it’s war so you have to be ready and you gain a lot playing on the streets so these young ones should drop their phones and play football.