Ugboh: I’m happy with progress at Midtjylland

Nigerian goalkeeper Mark Ugboh has expressed delight after recently being promoted to Danish SuperLiga giant club FC Midtjylland’s first team.

The 18-year-old arrived in January and was promoted to Midtjylland’s first team after signing a five-year contract extension this month, becoming the first African goalkeeper to achieve the feat at the Danish side.

The tall goalkeeper and product of FC Ebedei has impressed with Midtjylland’s U-19 side, keeping five clean sheets in seven appearances.

“I get a lot out of training with the first team. When I got here I didn’t think it would go so fast and I’m happy with the progress I’ve made so far.

“The goalkeepers I train with have great qualities. I look at what they do and I try to copy them. If there is something I can’t do, I try to learn from them in the pursuit of becoming even better,” Ugboh said on the club website.

Ugboh, who started keeping at 13, is surprised to become a professional goalkeeper in Europe at the teenage age of 18.

He said, “As an 11-year-old, I didn’t focus on being a goalkeeper at all. Here, I just played and took things as they came. It was only afterwards that I found out that my talent lay within the goal.

“When I was about 13 years old, I sometimes started playing as a goalkeeper. Here I found out that I was better as a goalkeeper than out on the pitch. It helped motivate me to keep playing there.”