Rising Nigerian football agent Ohi Longe speaks on his journey and challenges [Pulse Interview]
Ohi currently works as a consultant for a sports management company in the United Kingdom called ARETÉ.
It’s been long established that football is undoubtedly the number one sport in Nigeria with talents a dime a dozen.
In every neck of the woods around the country, the game is loved beyond measure, followed and played with passion and enthusiasm.
Despite faults with administration, production line and process, it’s the talent which has led to the breakthrough of players who have now become professionals in Nigeria and countries all over the world.
From the Premier League and the top-five leagues in Europe to other lesser-known and less glamorous leagues all over the world, there continues to be an increasing number of talented Nigerian footballers emerging.
Nigeria’s football talent, however, goes beyond the pitch. Former Nigeria international Ndubuisi Egbo just made history as the first African coach to win a league title in Europe following his recent success with KF Tirana in Albania.
Another former Nigeria international, albeit a more popular one, Michael Emenalo is known for his hugely successful stint as Director of Football at Chelsea.
There are several others also across the world working in football and making a mark for themselves.
One of them is Ohimai Longe, a football executive and agent in the United Kingdom.
Ohi, as he is popularly called, currently works as a consultant for a sports management company in the United Kingdom called ARETÉ.
With his work with ARETÉ, Ohi is a member of the company’s football representation team that manages Premier League household names like Nathan Redmond, Isaac Hayden and Cyrus Christie as well as up-and-coming talented ethnic-Nigerian players like Joseph Olowu, Miguel Azeez and Arthur Okonkwo.
He grew up in Lagos, Nigeria where he started as a footballer and attended various developmental programmes including Early Start Football Academy in Surulere, Lagos.
"My parents tell me that I've been passionate about football since I was six-months-old and I recall either always playing football or perpetually looking forward to playing football," Ohi told Pulse in an interview.
"I come from a football-loving background. From infancy, my parents respected and backed my desire to play competitively, whether as a coached youngster in youth teams or in other development academies (e.g. at summer camps).
"With time, I have constantly been in-or-around semi-professional and professional clubs, especially during my playing days."
Ohi has been in the United Kingdom since he was 16 and it was there he attended Brooke House College Football Academy before progressing to represent both Yeovil Town Football Club and Woking Football Club as a youth team player and young professional.
"Despite my fanaticism and passion for playing, I was always destined to pursue a parallel career to playing professionally," he said.
He further went on to study International Relations and Business Studies at Loughborough University where he also had the distinction of representing the university as a player.
"In my latter years of competitive playing, it became clear to me that there were other opportunities off-the-field, within the football industry.
"Having built a network of coaches, players and scouts within lower leagues in the UK, it then piqued my interest to assist up-and-coming youngsters in the game, especially those sharing the same up-hill battle to develop a professional career as myself."
Starting off as a player has given him some added advantage. It was during pre-Olympic Camp Trials with the Nigeria Under-23 side in Abuja in July 2015 that he connected him with Nigeria international Viv Solomon-Otabor.
"I now work with Viv and represent him as a client at ARETÉ," he told Pulse.
"So, for persons interested in the management aspect of the game, I'd summarise that the total of my experiences (on and off-field) and contacts (personal and professional) have facilitated my fairly seamless transition into the business side of the industry.
"Viv Solomon-Otabor is a very talented wide player. We are confident that his performances at club level could secure him a permanent spot in the Nigerian National team in a year or two," he also said.
Ohi is also part of a small team working with Arsenal’s Joseph Olowu who has been invited to represent Nigeria at Under-23 level and is currently on loan at Cork City FC.
The team he works with also represents Swedish U-18 goalkeeper Josh Clarke who is currently at AFC Bournemouth.
"Constantly working to grow and build my retinue and portfolio, I am currently guiding a lot of prospects developing within our pipeline.
"Looking a few years up the road, I am very excited about the crop of emerging talented international and African players who we are working with, to beneficially appreciate the value of the time, transparency and methodical efforts being invested in transforming them into quality professionals on and off the pitch."
Ohi works primarily from the United Kingdom where he attends youth and first-team games per week in search of talent.
Ohi's passion for helping footballers saw him found PlayersPerspective, a football blog that offers bespoke advice and opportunities to talented footballers.
"PlayersPerspective which was established as a corporation in Nigeria in 2015, in partnership with my father, is also currently active in Nigeria," he said.
"It's small team of knowledgeable and committed people figuring out a new way to equitably and conscientiously scout and monitor the progress of young talented Nigerian players, with a keen eye on preparing them for exposure on the international scene."
Ohi is planning to spread more of his works to Nigeria and recently sent a proposal to the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) to scout, assess and report on all talented players at Category-1 academies (i.e. the Football clubs of Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Fulham, Aston Villa, etc. in the UK) from U-14s up to the first team.
"Replicable across other African nationalities, if we do our job effectively, tremendous opportunities would unfold for a panoply of youth currently meandering the best they can, in this incredibly difficult business of football," he said.
His plans to get more talents from Nigeria face the challenges peculiar to the system here.
"The lack of a logical and dependable system within Nigerian and African football, I'd say has been a big challenge faced so far," he said.
"Exercising an exclusive mandate, April 2019 in Tanzania at the African U-17 Nations Cup, to co-represent a Nigerian U-17 forward player with a colleague; imagine our surprise and frustration to discover five or six other agents in attendance, also with mandates for the same player.
"Understanding and sympathetically managing a player's sheer desperation to move abroad or ply trades outside of Africa is important to me," he added.
"We aim to work-around the endemic pressures leading young players and their families to sign unreliable and very often injurious agreements with multiple people."
In the United Kingdom, working as an agent is also challenged by the long-drawn racial and ethnic perceptions according to Ohi.
"This flat-out discount content of character, instead ludicrously hinging life-changing, value-proposition decisions on looks and accents.
"However, schooled by my parents, that if I observe the wind, I shall not sow, I am determined not to be discouraged," he also said.
"Thus, I remain confident that emerging talented African footballers will eventually take notice of my hard work ensuring that players are represented appropriately, with player development at the forefront of everything."
Another challenge he faces as a football agent is one that everyone associated with that aspect of the game all over the world is familiar with.
"Stigmas bedevil football agents worldwide. Frequently seen as wheeler-dealers usually not working in the best interests of the player and only concerned with obtaining the best deals for ourselves, I am determined to operate differently; equitably and with integrity," Ohi said.
"Fortunate to learn the trade from a vastly experienced team at ARETÉ, professing mantras like; 100% transparency, the client is King and all decisions are made solely in the best interests of developing and growing clients careers on and off the pitch, I know that it is possible to do good while doing good for players."
Ohi is just starting; working constantly to build his profile and network, he is confident that as people become aware of his story, skills and determination, they would increasingly gravitate towards the value he proffers.
"In an industry filled with all types of characters and riven with questionable activities, my team and I aim to constitute a beacon of hope committed to providing players 24/7 support, advice and mentoring," he said.
"Thus, I am prepared that although it may not become easier as I continue to develop and gain experience, I will become more successful as I get better at what I do.
"Assuredly the players I work with will continue to develop and become household names in the game."
All Enquiries - Contact below
Instagram - @Ohilonge & @playersperspective_
Email - Ohimailonge@gmail.com
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