By Mark Heys
November 14 2005

Augustine (Jay-Jay) Okocha

Born: Enugu, Nigeria, 14th August 1973

International Honours: Nigeria Full, Olympic Gold 1996

Position: Midfielder

Squad Number: 10

Former Clubs:Enugu Rangers (Nigeria), Bayer Neunkirchen (Germany), Eintract Frankfurt (Germany), Fenerbache (Turkey), Paris Saint Germain (France)

Many eyebrows where raised when one time £10 million superstar Jay-Jay Okocha quit Paris Saint Germain in order to join a struggling, unpopular Premiership side in the North of England.

Bolton had just escaped relegation in 2001-2002 by the skin of their teeth, and many so-called experts had predicted that they would not be able to repeat that for a second time, with or without the input of Okocha - how wrong they were.

With the help of Okocha and players of the quality of Youri Djorkaeff and Ivan Campo, Bolton remained in the Premiership ahead of West Ham United thanks to a tense and dramatic end of season win against Middlesbrough in May 2003.

Okocha was instrumental in his first season at the club and, along with Djorkaeff, was often expected to lift the team at the times when it was needed the most. Notable examples of him doing this included the 1-0 win over West Ham and the victory against Spurs by the same scoreline.

The following season was much more settled for Bolton, they finished well outside of the relegation places and managed to reach a domestic cup final as an added bonus. Okocha was named as captain at the start of that season following the retirement of Icelander Gudni Bergsson, in was a role which he was already familiar with having undertook the captaincy at international level with the Nigerians.

Unfortunately the Carling Cup final ended in defeat to Middlesbrough to deny him his first piece of silverware in England, but Wanderers fans will forever note the excellent performance from Okocha in the earlier semi final first leg against Aston Villa. Not only did the African terrorise the Villans that night, he also scored a winning goal via a free kick which was worthy of any football stadium.

Many will argue that he is not as prominent as when he first came to the club, but nevertheless he is still a key component in the machine which defys the odds season after season. 2004-2005 was especially hard for him as he had a torrid time through niggling injuries picked up in the Winter.

As a young player the Nigerian international had started off in the familiar surroundings of his hometown Enugu, and in the early 1990's he joined Enugu Rangers.

A chance visit to a friend in Germany saw him hook up with Bayer Nirnkirchen, a minor German team who had been impressed by the African's skills in a trial period, and it wasn't long before this potential was to take him further in his career.

Leading Bundesliga club Eintract Frankfurt signed him up when he was on the verges of his 19th birthday, and he was to spend four years as a first team member there before taking an entirely different route across Europe altogether.

Turkish team Fenerbache proved to be his next port of call in 1996, and he showed lots of class and lots of quality in an attacking midfield role for them, thus resulting in many scouts taking note of his rising progress in the European leagues.

During this stage of his career, he won an Olympic Gold medal with his country in the 1996 tournament in Atlanta, playing alongside current Premiership stars such as West Brom forward Kanu and Newcastle's Celestine Babayaro.

His remarkable tally of goalscoring at club level did not go unnoticed as he was regularly on the scoresheet with Fenerbache. In just two seasons there he scored over 30 goals and it became apparent that he would move sooner rather than later.

The 1998 World Cup was ideal for him to show his talents on a more national stage, indeed it was ironic that he should have played in the France-based competition as it was here where he would be playing his football for the next four seasons.

Paris Saint Germain swooped to sign him for a hefty £10 million following the World Cup, and he was to gain yet further knowledge of another one of Europe's leagues to add to his experiences in Germany and Turkey.

Whilst at the Parc des Princes, he played in the Champions League and scored a number of stunning goals which had an element of trickery in them, something which he later became renound for across the world.

Bolton have since gained from Okocha's skills, both on the field and off it, having a player of that ilk at the club has undoubtedly tempted others to follow suit, most notably other leading African players such as El-Hadji Diouf and Khalilou Fadiga.

BOLTON RECORD: 97 appearances, 13 goals

DID YOU KNOW?.

Okocha released a DVD in 2003 to teach youngsters the skills which he had picked up.

He can speak a number of different languages, which in modern day football is a necessity due to the growing influx of foreign players year on year.