Nigeria-born defender Muisi Ajao has revealed how he ultimately landed up at Kaizer Chiefs from Belgium as a teenager in what led to the start of his relationship with South Africa.
Ajao had been in the books of Belgian club Cercle Brugge in the 1996/97 season trying to work his way up the ladder after having been with Shooting Stars back home.
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The arrival of another Dillon Sheppard for trials at Cercle Brugge ultimately led to Ajao moving to Chiefs for the 1997/98 season playing 22 games (one goal).
He would then move on to Mamelodi Sundowns where he spent four years and won two league titles before being released and moving to Vietnam with his career heading south by the time he returned.
"Why did I leave Europe and come to Africa at that age?" Ajao repeats the question posed at him.
Without hesitation he raises his voice.
"While I was at Cercle Brugge when an Afrikaner agent named Colin Viljoen who played for Ipswich Town under Sir Bobby Robson and was the manager for Dillon Sheppard and Bradley Carnell at the time.
"So, I got to meet him when he brought Sheppy to my team in Belgium and we started talking because he needed me to help Sheppy since he was still a slim and young in an environment where there were issues of bullying.
"What happened is that when he (Viljoen) found out that I wasn't happy since there were issues here and there with coaches taking sides after I kicked someone who had kicked me.
"I couldn't be a sissy who would allow someone to bully me.
"So, as we spoke, I told him that if he can get something else then I can go.
"He then got me a deal in Turkey but unfortunately the week when I was supposed to leave the coach that he was dealing with was fired yet the team was in second place.
"It was horrible.
"He then proposed that if I don't mind, he can arrange something for me to come to South Africa for six months and if I do well then, he takes me back to Europe.
"In my six months at Chiefs I played well, and he then got me something at Malaga in Spain, but the team was in the second division at the time.
"That deal came up while I was back home in Nigeria on holiday and when I sent to the Spanish embassy, I was told that every invitation should be from the Primeira Division and not lower leagues.
"I couldn't get a visa and he then then suggested that I come back to South Africa so that I can play for a short with the hope that I can get a top league team in Spain.
"Back at Chiefs they brought in Mohammed Auseb, Patrick Mabedi and Robert Nauseb and it meant I was stuck in a hotel with a proposal of a deal that I didn't want.
"The window was about to close and before they knew it, I was at Sundowns.
"I had signed for Chiefs for a season with an option to renew.
"In joining Sundowns, Natasha Tsichlas paid for my clearance which then meant I had to pay my agent from my signing on fees even though I didn't want it to be that way.
"It is all in the past now and I thank God that they brought me into the country and got me the opportunity to play.
"I can't complain because these are the things that you face in a career, and you must move on.
"After that, other options in Europe came and I went to Israel, Ukraine and all these places that I kept on going to but life had to go on and I continued at Sundowns," says Ajao.
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