Isaac Success: ‘Football can take you anywhere in your life’
The Watford striker made it from poverty to the Premier League and is determined to make the most of his chance
The full name of Watford’s record signing is Isaac Success Ajayi but he has come to believe that Success is key, which is why that is what it says on the back of his shirt. “Yes, it inspires me,” he explains. “I didn’t even know the meaning of the name, I was just answering to it until I noticed this name is something that was pushing me forward in my career. So I appreciate the name so much and appreciate my mum for giving it to me. It has helped a lot.”
It is clear that this is an exceptionally driven 20-year-old. Less than four years ago he was unknown outside his home town, Benin City in southern Nigeria, where he and his friends were sometimes so hungry that they used to roam the streets looking for weddings or other ceremonies into which they could sneak to pinch food. “That’s true,” he says. “It was a bit crazy but thank God we’re past that and in a different stage now. In Africa there are a lot of struggles. We just have to fight and believe that what we’re doing will make a way for us some day. So that was it.”
“That was it” or “that is it” are expressions that Success uses often, a habit that perhaps indicates his ability to recognise reality matter-of-factly and deal with it. Along with his affability and endearing lack of pretence, there is an obvious hardness to him. His focus has helped take him from poverty to the opulence of the Premier League in little time. Even with his determination and talent, however, such progress would not have been possible without the gift of a bus ticket. José Holebas’ stunning strike lands spoils for Watford at Middlesbrough Read more In 2012 Douglas Idahosa, the coach of BJ Foundation, the youth team where Success played, heard that Nigeria’s Under-17 side were holding trials in Calabar, a town more than 400km from Benin City. Idahosa paid 2,500 naira (about £6) so that his player could make the trip. “He told me he believed in me, so said: ‘Boy, go and try out.’ I went there and did what I could do. The players who were there were already in the national team camp and I was just trying to fight to be one of the top players. That was the target and I succeeded. I was taken into the camp. That was the start of my career.”
A few months later he starred in the Under-17 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, scoring seven goals in five matches as Nigeria finished runners-up. European scouts came calling but Success avoided making any commitments until after the Under-17 World Cup six months later, knowing that good performances on the global stage could lead to even better offers.
“I was too mentally strong,” he says. “I knew it would be easier for me to move forward after the World Cup so I was just concentrated and relaxed and tried to work with the other players to make a success for the team.”
Nigeria won the World Cup even though Success was injured after scoring in each of the first two games. His strike partner, Kelechi Iheanacho, earned a move to Manchester City while Success plumped for Udinese, owned by the Pozzo family, who also own Watford and at the time Granada. “Many other clubs were interested – I can’t even remember who – but Udinese were most serious and I also believed that as Gino Pozzo has three clubs I would have a chance to develop my game and a chance to play. So I said OK.”
A hitch with a work permit thwarted the move to Italy so he switched to Granada. “I enjoyed it and learned a lot in Granada, playing with top players and clubs,” he says before explaining that another boon of the move to Spain was that he got to play against the team he had followed since childhood. “I never knew a lot about the Premier League except that it was a top league but I’ve always watched Real Madrid and loved Ronaldo and Zidane,” he says.
Success is closer in style to Ronaldo – powerful, fast and direct – but Zidane was his main idol. “There were a lot of shops in Benin City where they make fake jerseys and I bought a Zidane one in the market and put it on wherever I went, even to church. I love Zidane so much. In attack I liked Ronaldo but Zidane was the magic man who made surprises in the game. Watching him, I said: ‘OK, I want to try to make surprises when I have the chance.’
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“At Granada I played against Real home and away. I did all I could to help my team-mates get three points but we lost. But I was so, so happy and excited despite the loss because I had just made my dream come true, playing against my dream club. It was something I’d always wanted but I never believed it would come so early, but football is something that can take you anywhere in your life at any second.”
After two years at Granada it took him to Watford, following the payment of a £12.5m transfer fee last July. “I’m happy now with the change of direction, coming to England to see a different kind of football that will make me improve in other ways.”
Hamstring and calf problems have restricted him to six appearances – and he is unlikely to be fit to face Stoke on Sunday – but he scored his first goal for his new club after coming off the bench against Bournemouth in October and was awarded man of the match after his first start, the win at Middlesbrough two weeks later. “I enjoyed that game because I played almost 90 minutes and felt the atmosphere in English football and saw the challenge that I’ve always wanted to have in football,” he says.
“In England it’s very difficult to predict matches because all clubs are of the standard to win any game, so it’s more challenging. So I prefer to be here and try to compete with other players and teams.”
He knows which aspect of his game he wants to improve and believes that Watford’s manager, Walter Mazzarri, can help him. “If I can improve [my understanding of] team tactics that will definitely make me improve individually,” he says. “So I’m just concentrating on improving with the team and that will develop me. I can play anywhere up front. As a coach [Mazzarri] has different tactics in different games, so if his tactics for some games don’t favour me I have to watch and try to learn from the players who they do favour.”
Beyond football Success has another passion: music. He has his own label, IS Music, which he set up primarily to promote Trazyx, an afrobeats artist who has made waves in Nigeria since his 2015 track Young Alhaji. Success featured in the video for that track and takes pride in how far he and Trazyx have come. “He was my childhood friend; we started together, we suffered together so I was just trying to support his music career and see how far I could help push him,” he says. “He’s going fine. We are progressing.” Watford foresee Success helping them to progress, too.
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