Ambitious Emakhu pushing himself to ‘reach perfection’
AIDOMO EMAKHU says he isn’t chasing a dream; instead, he’s chasing perfection. Still only 19, Emakhu is a young man on the up, with Millwall in the Championship, and for the Ireland Under 21s, who play Latvia in Riga in tomorrow’s Euro qualifier. ‘I’m my biggest critic. If I scored one goal, I think of the chance I missed. I could have had two. That’s what the best players in the world do and even that’s not good enough for them at times,’ he said. ‘That’s the level I’ve set for myself. That’s what I’m trying to reach. See what I can do in my career. Stay hungry, never satisfied. For me, it’s like I’m chasing perfection.’ The Dubliner was a breath of fresh air on media duty this week, kicking off with a great line, ‘Do you want me to go from the start?’ Which he did, tracing a path from the Dublin schoolboy ranks to Shamrock Rovers U19s, to scoring a goal for the Hoops in the Europa Conference League at 17. ‘The youngest Rovers scorer in Europe,’ he beamed. Along the way, Emakhu insisted his parents, Emanuel and Anike, drive him to training, even if he was feeling poorly. ‘So many sacrifices they made. Some days they’d say “Can you not miss this one?” and I’d be “Oh, I have to go. I have to go”. ‘Looking back, missing one session wouldn’t have done any harm but my mentality was that if I missed training, then someone was doing what I should be doing and maybe getting better than I was. ‘So it was about always being present. No matter how tired I was. Even if I was sick. I’d have to be there.’ Growing up in Clondalkin, Emakhu and Sinclair Armstrong, now with QPR, were touch tight. ‘We went to the same school. I played against him. I’d knock on his door and go play football. We were in the same friends group.’ When Armstrong, who is four months older, made his senior debut against the Netherlands last month, Emakhu was delighted. ‘It was a proud moment for us all. One of those moments where you sit back and think, “We’ve come a long way”. ‘When he made his debut, I celebrated like it was me. We talked about it. We grew up on the same
field. He’s one of our own back home. It was mental.’ How much does he want it too? ‘It would be surreal wouldn’t it? That’s the dream. ‘To play in the Aviva in front of your home crowd, having my parents, family and friends there. My godmother Pauline says “You’re going to play for Ireland” all the time. ‘At times I have looked back at how far I’ve come and you think “Wow, it’s gone so quick”. ‘One minute, you’re playing in the League of Ireland, the next the Championship, scoring. It flies in. Everything happened so quickly. ‘It’s always “Right, what can I do to keep improving?” You have to believe in yourself.’ While at Rovers, Emakhu completed his Leaving Certificate at Moyle Park, banking an impressive 400 points. If he wasn’t a footballer, what would he have done? ‘I’d definitely get real estate, something like that. ‘As footballers, we have lots of time. I’ve an interest in buying and selling properties.’ If he continues to progress at Millwall, Emakhu could become hot property in football before long.