Nigeria goalkeeper Maduka Okoye made it 10 clean sheets in 27 games when his club Sparta Rotterdam Thursday evening held visiting FC Utrecht to a goalless draw at the Sparta-stadion “Het Kasteel” in the penultimate game of the 2020/21 Dutch Eredivise.
Okoye who joined Sparta from Germany’s third tier team, Fortuna Dusseldorf 11 has been a revelation of sort for his Eredivise side as his saves ensured the club will finish the season eighth or ninth on the log. His impressive performances also earned him Nigeria’s number one shirt.
The Nigerian is now one of only five goalkeepers in the Dutch Eredivise to reach double figures in terms of clean sheets and he is actually joint third in the ranking with Erwin Mulder of SC Heerenveen who has also kept 10 clean sheets.
The two goalkeepers are however behind the quartet of Vitesse’s Remko Pasveer and Sergio Padt of FC Groningen who have both kept 12 clean sheets with Yvon Mvogo of PSV Eindhoven in second place with 11 clean sheets.
Interestingly, the Nigerian has made the least number of appearances than the other three ahead of him. Vitesse’s Pasveer and Padt of FC Groningen have made 32 and 33 appearances respectively for their 12 clean sheets each while PSV’s Mvogo made 33 appearances to keep 11 clean sheets.
Mulder of SC Heerenveen who has also kept 10 clean sheets like the Nigerian needed all 33 games played so far in the Eredivise to achieve that.
Okoye will have the chance to move clear of Mulder and up to second in the ranking if he keeps his 11th clean sheet away at the Abe Lenstra Stadion where his club will face SC Heerenveen in the final league match of the season.
The 21 year old Nigerian has featured 30 times for Sparta in all competitions so far this term and has kept 10 clean sheets. He has conceeded 39 times with 34 coming from the Dutch Eredivise.
Okoye was recently linked with reigning Dutch Eredivise champions, Ajax who are expected to lose their number one goalkeeper, Andre Onana after this season.