Ovie Ejaria | |
---|---|
Personal information | |
Date of Birth |
18 November 1997 |
Place of Birth |
London, England |
Position |
Midfielder |
Liverpool statistics | |
Years |
2016-2020 |
Appearances |
8 |
Goals |
0 |
Ovie Ejaria (born 18 November 1997) is an English born Nigerian footballer who played as a midfielder for Liverpool.
Liverpool career[]
Ejaria spent nine years of his youth career at Premier League rivals Arsenal, before leaving the club in 2014. Liverpool fought of competition from teams like Manchester United to sign the young star.
The midfielder spent his first season in the U18s, and established himself as a midfield star. On 10 October 2015, Ejaria netted the winner for the U18s in a victory over Stoke in front of new manager Jurgen Klopp. The Nigerian later admitted that he was desperate to make an impression on the manager.
On 8 July 2016, Ejaria made his first team debut, playing the first 45 minutes in a 1-0 friendly win over Tranmere. He continued to star throughout the pre-season, most notably putting in an impressive performance against Chelsea, before getting injured.
Ejaria returned and began to feature in the U23s squad, scoring his first goal for the side on 11 September 2016, in a 4-0 win over Leicester. Five days later, Ejaria was featured on the substitutes bench for the 2-1 win away to Chelsea.
On 20 September 2016, Ejaria made his competitive debut, coming on with 15 minutes remaining in a 3-0 win at Derby. In the next cup game, Ejaria made his first start, and played the full 90 minutes in a 2-1 win over Tottenham. On 6 November 2016, Ejaria made his Premier League debut, coming off the bench in a 6-1 win over Watford, and playing a big part in the sixth goal.
Ejaria continued to be in and around the first-team squad for the rest of the 2016-17 season, and ended the campaign with 8 appearances.
With the increased depth added in the transfer market in the summer of 2017, Ejaria found first-team opportunities hard to come by in the 2017-18 season, spending the majority of the first half of the season starring for the U23 squad. On 31 January 2018, it was confirmed that Ejaria was to spend the remainder of the season on loan to Sunderland in the Championship.
On 7 June 2018, it was announced that Ejaria had signed a new long-term deal with the club. On the same day it was revealed that the youngster would spend the 2018-19 season on loan to Steven Gerrard’s Rangers side. In January however, the loan was cancelled due to Ejaria's unhappiness at the club. Days later he joined Reading on another loan until the end of the season.
On 8 August 2019, it was confirmed that Ejaria was to re-join Reading on a season-long loan, which would eventually be made permanently in the next summer. On 28 August 2020, it was confirmed that Ejaria had completed a permanent move to Reading, for a fee of around £3,000,000.
Stats[]
Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
2016-17 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
Total | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
External links[]
- Ovie Ejaria player profile at LFCHistory.net