Julien Ngoy is currently on loan from Stoke City at Walsall which probably isn’t what he expected when he moved to England in 2013.
The 20 year old had always wanted to try his luck in English football, but Belgium’s DH have had a chat with him and seemingly tried to force some regret out of his career choices.
Ngoy explained to DH that England had always been his dream and he’s a fan of Chelsea, to which the Belgium newspaper pointed out it’s not the London club he joined, but Stoke City: “I had a lot of offers at the age of 15, but I chose Stoke, and with my family, we wanted a club where I could progress calmly and at my own pace, there was Fulham or Stoke City. I visited the facilities of both clubs and Stoke really won and I had a great feeling.”
DH then put it to Ngoy that Barcelona, PSG, Chelsea and Arsenal had also wanted to sign him: “It’s true, it was not easy to refuse such clubs, especially Chelsea and Barcelona, of which I’m a fan, but I’m lucky enough to be well surrounded. My parents did not go crazy when they saw the numbers. It must be said that they are both accountants. It is the sporting aspect which remained priority. I think you have to come through the front door in such prestigious clubs. It’s very difficult to do that by coming in with the youth teams, especially at Chelsea.”
Again trying to push it home, DH asked outright if Ngoy has any regrets about joining Stoke City: “No, no, I could taste the Premier League last season. I made my debut on the Arsenal pitch in December 2016. In March 2017, I was even elected young player of the month in Premier League. This is the first time this honour has been awarded to a Stoke player. I thought I was starting but it’s a little harder this season.”
Whilst Ngoy sounds happy with his choice to join Stoke City, he doesn’t seem quite so enthused about his current loan to Walsall: “To be honest, I didn’t accept this loan directly to Walsall, I had a lot of other possibilities, especially in Belgium, but Stoke wanted me to stay in England and I finally accepted this option in Walsall, all at the end of the window.”
After explaining that before he was sent on loan he used to finish training by practising one on ones with Kurt Zouma, DH asked the Stoke player about AS Monaco wanting to sign him in the summer: “Yes, when PSG started to become concrete for Mbappe, Monaco got in touch with my agent but it dragged on and finally it didn’t happen. We are both players who bet on our speed and who love the one against one. After this contact with Monaco, I finally signed a new contract until 2022 at Stoke. I want to break through there and the next season will be very important for me.”
From being wanted by Barcelona, PSG, Chelsea and Arsenal to then having AS Monaco being keen, in all honesty, Ngoy must wonder what’s hit him with Walsall.
