You remember those tricks that you only used to do on the playground? The ones you’d never ever think about doing in a ‘real’ game?
Well, Jay Jay Okocha didn’t care about any of that as the football pitch was his playground and he spent his career showing off some unbelievable tekkers that made his opponents look very foolish indeed.
Something of a journeyman, Okocha started off in German third division before moving to Fenerbache in Turkey and then France with PSG where he settled for four seasons at Parc Des Prince.
In 2002 a move to England beckoned and he was snapped up by Sam Allardyce (fatty fatty) and Bolton Wanderers and quickly became a fan favourite thanks to his tendency to make opposing teams look stupid.
Okocha stayed with Bolton for four seasons, captaining them for two, before the relationship began to deteriorate and the Nigeria international travelled to the Middle East before finishing his career with, ahem, Hull.
He was a great watch, though, and only seemed to score goals which had a mind boggling piece of skill in the build up. He helped Bolton to the League Cup final and also assisted Allardyce’s team in avoiding relegation.
Here is some of best ‘playground’ moments.