Towering centre-back Ayo Obileye recently concluded a solid debut season for Livingston in the Scottish Premiership where he played 42 games across all competitions and scored 6 goals.
2021/22 was his first-ever season of top-flight football and his exploits were instrumental in earning him the 16th spot on Pulse Sports 30.
The 27-year-old sat down with Pulse Sports for an exclusive interview, revealing what attracted him to move to Scotland and what it all had to do with another Super Eagles star.
The Scottish attraction
Although last season was Obileye’s first with Livingston, it was his second in Scottish football having spent the 2020/21 season with Queen of the South FC in the Scottish second division where he scored 9 goals in 33 games and attracted interest from the top-flight.
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After getting released by Charlton Athletic in 2016, Obileye would spend the next four years touring the lower echelons of English football mostly in the National League until he got convinced by an old friend to move to Scotland.
The friend in question is Joe Aribo, who also was on the books of Charlton where he and Obileye crossed paths as briefly as British-Nigerians and then left to join Scottish side, Rangers.
Joe Aribo’s influence
“I knew a bit before I came over because I'm mates with Joe Aribo he's one of my good friends, we played together at Charlton. He spoke well of the league and that convinced me to come into Scotland,” Ayo Obileye revealed exclusively to Pulse Sports.
Aribo’s advice clearly worked out well because Obileye went from touring the fifth tier of English football to the Scottish second division and now playing top-flight football for the first time and even chasing European qualification with Livingston.
“It is a good opportunity for players who obviously do not want to play in England so they just go to Scotland because the level is also quite good too,” Obileye further explained.