The West Bromwich Albion brick wall, the Super Eagles ever-present defender, Oluwasemilogo Ibidapo Ajayi had a rollercoaster season both for club and country.
GOAL! Semi Ajayi scores for Nigeria. It’s 1-1! pic.twitter.com/jPIZPhGQvb
— Ghana Naija Ballers (@GHNaijaBallers) November 16, 2023
“The Baggies” conceded only 14 goals when the Ajayi was in the team, with 86 minutes per goal conceded and ten clean sheets recorded.
The Crayford-born defender also made 20 tackles, nine interceptions, at the same time winning 71 out of 123 ground duels contested, 38 aerial duels, 28 clearances, blocking five shots and getting dribbled past just six times throughout the season.
Per 90 minutes, Ajayi conceded an average of 1.05 goals, 37% clean sheets and 57.38 passes when in the team.
He also had an impeccable record discipline-wise, recording just one booking, a yellow card, and an average of 0.07 cards per 90 minutes, while committing just nine fouls.
Despite not being an attacking player, he had one assist, 627 accurate passes out of 767 attempted (five key) and a pass completion rate of 81.75% and a shooting accuracy of 40%.
West Brom failed to return to the Premier League after they fell off in the English Championship promotion playoffs with Semi Ajayi consigned to the subs bench.
The defender salvaged a 1-1 draw for the Super Eagles in an opening 2026 World Cup qualifier against Lesotho in Uyo last November.
It was a powerful header off a corner taken by Kelechi Iheanacho.
He was the permanent fixture in a three-man central defence as the Super Eagles went all the way to the final of the delayed 2023 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire.
He was stable if not spectacular, just effective like he was at the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon two years ago.
Semilogo Ajayi continued his ever-present run at the Super Eagles World Cup Play-offs against South Africa and Benin Republic, even though results were not too good, and was also spotted enjoying the NBA finals between Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks in the USA as he looks to recreate and get enough rest ahead of next season’s hostilities.
