• Jay-Jay Okocha is considered among the best footballers Africa has produced

• The attacking midfielder was ranked 12th by CAF in their Golden Jubilee poll

• Okocha played for Eintracht Frankfurt, Fenerbahce, Paris Saint-Germain, and Bolton Wanderers, among others

Akshat Mehrish “Maybe 1 billion Euros should have been paid for me,” claimed a confident Jay-Jay Okocha in a recent interview with Hurriyet, a Turkish news outlet. “They [Chelsea] paid £106 million for their defensive midfielder; to a player from Portugal. I would have cost around €150 million. My assists, dribbles… World football started to pay a lot of money. Such would be the numbers of players of this quality.” Okocha was never lacking in confidence. During his heydays, the dazzling dribbler would magically turn the metaphysical characteristic into something tangible; confidence dripped off his boots as he skipped past defender after defender with his quick feet and an even quicker imagination. He never scaled to the uppermost echelons of the European football summit, one could argue, but the grounds he graced on the continent and the hearts he touched back home in Nigeria will remember Okocha as one of the greats of the sport.

Born Augustine Azuka Okocha, borrowing the name Jay-Jay from his elder brother, the imaginative attacking midfielder left a lasting impression on African football. His contributions over the years for Nigeria and as a representative of the continent overseas helped him be regarded as one of the finest footballers Africa has ever produced. As much was confirmed in the Confederation of African Football’s Golden Jubilee poll, in which he came in the 12th position, the second Nigerian on the list behind Nwankwo Kanu. Jay-Jay Okocha’s international career lasted from 1993 to 2006. During this period, he won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria in 1994, finished second in the continental competition once, and finished third thrice in successive editions. He became an Olympic gold medallist with his national team in the 1996 games in Atlanta by helping them beat Argentina in the final of the football tournament. Additionally, he represented Nigeria in three FIFA World Cups and was even named in the reserve All-Star team of the 1998 version.

Okocha won the Nigerian Football of the Year honour seven times and came second in the African Football of the Year contest in 1998. In 2004, Brazilian great Pele named the attacking midfielder in his Best 125 Living Footballers list, further cementing his legacy. “So good they named him twice”, rang from the terraces around the Bolton Wanderers’ Stadium whenever Jay Jay Okocha picked the ball up and hypnotised those present inside the stadium - opponents included - with his arsenal of skills and feints and all kinds of manipulations that only a select few are gifted enough to perform. He was inconsistent, sure, but he was the kind of silky, skilful, and technically-gifted individual you’d happily pay the price of admission just to watch for an hour and a half. The ball stuck to Okocha’s feet when he danced past those who’d dare to stop him; the flying boots of the opposing defenders rarely did.

Okocha turned into a cult hero at Bolton Wanderers, whom he surprisingly joined in the summer of 2002 after leaving Paris Saint-Germain upon the expiration of his contract. The Nigerian had spent four years in Paris. Before that, he had tormented defences in Istanbul, donning the colours of Fenerbahce, and Frankfurt, acting on behalf of the local giants Eintracht Frankfurt. The attacking midfielder could never match his international success in his domestic spells but a semi-regular contribution in terms of goals and assists and the sheer entertainment value he provided whilst on the pitch ensured that he was remembered more for the good than the bad. Okocha spent four years with Bolton and scored 18 goals in 142 matches. He left the club in 2006, spent a year abroad, and returned to England for a last dance in 2007 with Hull City in the Championship. He retired from the sport at the end of the season, only to strut his way into football folklore.