Uche Henry Agbo

Uche Henry Agbo (born 4 December 1995) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as either a central defender or a defensive midfielder[1] for Belgian club Standard Liège.

Not to be confused with Uche Agbo, born in 1975.
Uche
Personal information
Full name Uche Henry Agbo
Date of birth (1995-12-04) 4 December 1995
Place of birth Kano, Nigeria
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position(s) Centre-back / Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Standard Liège
Youth career
Bai Boys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2010–2011 Taraba ? (1)
2011–2012 JUTH ? (1)
2012–2013 Enyimba 1 (0)
2013–2016 Udinese 0 (0)
2014–2015 → Granada B (loan) 57 (4)
2015–2016 → Granada (loan) 7 (0)
2016–2017 Watford 0 (0)
2016–2017 → Granada (loan) 31 (0)
2017– Standard Liège 45 (1)
2019 → Rayo Vallecano (loan) 6 (0)
2019 → Braga (loan) 1 (0)
2020 → Deportivo La Coruña (loan) 9 (0)
National team‡
2013 Nigeria U20 3 (0)
2017– Nigeria 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 July 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:14 21 May 2018 (UTC)

Club career

Born in Kano, Uche started playing for local lowly Bai Boys, and moved to Taraba in 2010.[2] In May 2011 he signed for JUTH,[3] and appeared regularly for the side, scoring once.

In January 2012 Uche joined Enyimba International along with teammate James Amankwei.[4] He made his debut for the club on 28 April 2013, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 win against Dolphins.[5]

In October 2013, Uche went on a trial at Udinese,[6] signing a four-year deal in the following month.[7] In March 2014 he moved to Granada CF, linking up with the Andalusians also until 2018 and being assigned to the reserves in Segunda División B.[8]

On 23 February 2015, Uche made his first team – and La Liga – debut, replacing Javi Márquez in the dying minutes of a 1–2 away loss against Levante UD.[9] On 25 July of the following year, he signed a five-year contract with Premier League club Watford, being immediately loaned back to Granada for one year.[10]

On 11 July 2017, Uche joined Belgian club Standard de Liège.[11] On 31 January 2019, he returned to Spain and its first division after agreeing to a six-month loan at Rayo Vallecano, with an option to buy.[12] In doing so, he said that he had turned down a big-money move to China, as his career development was more important.[13]

On 21 January 2020, after a six-month loan spell at S.C. Braga, Uche agreed to a deal with Deportivo de La Coruña, still owned by Standard.[14]

International career

Uche got his first call up to the senior Nigeria side to replace the injured Leon Balogun for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Zambia in October 2016.[15] On 1 June 2017, he made his international debut for Nigeria in a 3–0 win against Togo in a friendly replacing Wilfred Ndidi.[16][17]

Uche was included in Nigeria's preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[18] However, he did not make the final 23.[19]

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References
  1. "Uche Agbo y la oportunidad en el corazón de la zaga con Jémez" [Uche Agbo and the opportunity in the heart of the defence with Jémez] (in Spanish). Ideal. 10 July 2016. Retrieved 17 August 2016.
  2. The Nigeria U-20 national football team; West African Football, 27 May 2012
  3. Uche Agbo; Foetbal 247, 4 January 2012
  4. Ghanaian striker Amankwei set for Enyimba Archived 3 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine; MTN Football, 2 January 2012
  5. Enyimba triumphant again after 2–0 Dolphins win; Enyimba's official website, 28 April 2013
  6. Exclusive: Uche Agbo Begins Trials At Udinese; All Nigeria Soccer, 11 October 2013
  7. Exclusive: Uche Agbo Set To Sign Four-year Deal With Udinese; All Nigeria Soccer, 18 November 2013
  8. Success Isaac y Uche Agbo: nuevos jugadores del Granada CF (Success Isaac and Uche Agbo: new players of Granada CF) Archived 3 September 2014 at the Wayback Machine; Granada CF, 18 March 2014 (in Spanish)
  9. El Levante resurge de sus cenizas (Levante rises from its ashes); Marca, 23 February 2015 (in Spanish)
  10. Uche Agbo signs for Watford, yet is loaned to Granada immediately; Vavel, 25 July 2016
  11. "Uche Henry Agbo rejoint Les Rouches" (in French). Standard Liege. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  12. "Agbo Uche nuevo jugador del Rayo Vallecano" [Agbo Uche new player of Rayo Vallecano] (in Spanish). Rayo Vallecano. 31 January 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  13. Okeleji, Oluwashina (12 February 2019). "Nigeria's Uche Agbo 'football more important than cash'". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
  14. "Uche Agbo, nuevo jugador del Deportivo 2019–2020" [Uche Agbo, new player of Deportivo 2019–2020] (in Spanish). Deportivo La Coruña. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
  15. "The young defender has been handed his first national team call-up to replace injured Leon Balogun ahead of October's World Cup qualifier against Chipolopolo". goal.com. 27 September 2016. Retrieved 5 October 2016.
  16. Audu, Samm. "Super Eagles fly past Togo 3-0 | SCORE NIGERIA". scorenigeria.com.ng. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  17. "Internationals (Sky Sports)". SkySports. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  18. "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - 23-man & preliminary lists & when will they be announced? | Goal.com". Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  19. "World Cup 2018: Arsenal's Iwobi in Nigeria's 23-man squad". BBC Sport. 3 June 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2019.
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