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The Nigeria international defender speaks exclusively to Pulse Sports about the season past, what makes the Championship difficult, and looks ahead to next year's AFCON
Nigeria international Semi Ajayi has stated that he has no inferiority complex over playing in the second division of English football.
The 29-year-old has been a feature of multiple Super Eagles squads since making his international debut in 2018, amassing 21 caps so far for the three-time African champions.
Nigeria’s most recent international outing – a 3-2 away victory over Sierra Leone – saw Ajayi claim a starting berth for the second time in a row; barring injury, the former Arsenal youth defender has been an ever-present under Jose Peseiro.
Stop-start season for the Super Eagles defender
West Bromwich Albion stalwart Ajayi endured a difficult 2022/23 campaign, sidelined for over three months with an injury before the New Year. In his absence, the Baggies slid down the Championship table, entering the relegation zone in mid-November; his return to fitness however coincided with a late surge in form that ultimately took the club to within three points of a place in the promotion play-offs.
Speaking to Pulse Sports, Ajayi described the season as “stop-start”, but was grateful to play a part in the latter stages of the campaign.
“It's the first time in my career I've ever had to suffer with injuries and deal with that,” he said. “So, I learned a lot from that, and I'm just glad that I was able to fully recover, and I ended the season really, really well after coming back from my injury.”
‘There are a lot of good teams in the Championship’
Missing out on a chance at promotion to the Premier League means another season in the Championship for Ajayi, who was a part of the West Brom side that went up in 2019/20, before coming straight back down.
Despite having spent the majority of his career in the second tier of English football, Ajayi insisted playing in the division is not a commentary on his talent, and that he is not intimidated by the presence of European stars like Victor Osimhen, Alex Iwobi and Samuel Chukwueze.
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“Not really,” he said when asked if he is bothered by the gap in profile. “The league I play [in] doesn't affect my ability and what I'm able to do on a football pitch. Of course, I want to play at the highest level. We all do. But the fact that I'm playing in the Championship, it doesn't affect my ability. I know this is a very talented squad, but I’ve always got confidence in my ability.
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“I can't compare it (the Championship) to every other league because I haven't played in every league. But I can only speak from my experience that it's a very, very tough league. There's a lot of good teams. Of course, you have 24 teams that are fighting to the death to make it to the Premier League. And there's 24 teams in the league. So that means you play 46 games a season.
“Because of that, we play a lot of… most weeks, we have two games in a week, on a weekend and in the mid-week. So, there's not really much time for recovery. It's just game after game and you have to be ready for the battle.”
Righting the wrong of AFCON past
Nigeria’s victory over Sierra Leone in Monrovia earned the Super Eagles a place at next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) with a game to spare.
Should Ajayi make the squad to Cote d’Ivoire, it would mark his second appearance at the continental showpiece, as he was a part of Nigeria’s Round of 16 finish in 2022.
The towering defender, who featured in two of Nigeria’s four matches in Cameroon, acknowledges mistakes were made in the bitter defeat and elimination suffered at the hands of Tunisia. In particular, Ajayi rued the sending off of midfielder Alex Iwobi, which he believes was a pivotal moment in the game.
“The last tournament, we were very unfortunate,” he said. “The game that we got knocked out in, we had a red card. We went down to 10 men and had that not happened, who knows what could have happened. So we're definitely eager to put that right.
“We don't want to look too far ahead right now, but we have such a great, great squad. I've got so much belief in the squad and how far it can go.
“We have top players all over the world. So it's an honour to be part of the squad.”
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