On Saturday, Ikechi Anya, a rather unusual footballer born to a Romanian mother and a Nigerian father, played his part for Championship side, Watford in the club’s 1-0 win over Birmingham City at St Andrews.
The 25-year-old was on for all of 74 minutes of his side’s opening day 2013/14 fixture before his place was taken by the Czech Republic midfielder, Daniel Pudil.
Since making his professional debut for Wycombe Wanderers in 2004, Anya has made 171 league appearances for eight different clubs in England and Spain.
He may not be an unschooled mind in the complexities of football but the winger is not your conventional footballer.
"I'm not your average footballer," he told authoritative British newspaper, the Independent.
The translator
The winger shares some similarities with the Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho who first made his name as a translator before cementing his place as one of the best managers in world football.
Anya made sure his impact was felt while playing for Spanish clubs, Sevilla Atletico, Celta Vigo, Cadiz and Granada between 2009 and 2012 by getting ingrained in the culture and Lingua Franca of the Iberians.
He speaks fluent Spanish and acts as an interpreter for his South American teammates at Watford.
"I'm definitely one of them," Anya said of his multi-cultural teammates, Fernando Forestieri, Cristian Battocchio and Javier Acuna representing Argentina and Paraguay in the UK.
Anya clearly enjoys his off-the-pitch duties but will not be doing it for free for much longer if his tongue in cheek declaration is to be believed.
"I'm seeking a pay rise because I'm translating so much, but it's good fun.
"From my point of view, it's really good to learn another language, and had the Spanish-speaking players not been here maybe I'd have forgotten it. But it's keeping me on my toes, I get to practice. It's good to be bilingual,” he said.
Parent’s influence
Anya’s professional career and life as a man has been greatly influenced by his parents.
He spent most of his childhood in Kidlington, just outside Oxford, where his father – Dr Chinasa Anya – taught in the department of materials at the university.
He also makes it a point of duty to visit his mum in Romania at least once every year.
"My dad is a doctor of science, my mum was an accountant, and my brother is a medical doctor. My dad is a proud African, he wanted his children to study, so when I started to play football, at first he wasn't too thrilled about it, but luckily it worked out.
"There was a lot of pressure on me. My dad was into his academics, after school I would have to study for an hour extra, and I started off well, but when I was 15 or 16 I started putting on my music. It wasn't for me but, luckily, my football took over," he said.
Anya’s other life
Many top footballers in the world would choose some picturesque, cozy resort to spend their summer holidays but Anya is a mercurial man of many parts.
He chose to visit Asia for his summer holidays and Tokyo was his preferred destination.
“I managed to go to Tokyo this summer. It was very good, it was crazy. I went with my brother and three friends.
“There's so much to see, we were walking nine hours a day, seeing all the sights, seeing the shrines. Some of the shrines were really good, and just how polite the people were there. And they've got certain rules, even eating on the street is frowned upon,” he gushed.
. Anya is a huge fan of music and has a strong bias for the hip-hop brand.
“Music, football and family are my three things. I like to get to the bottom of music, when I listen to a new album, I'll go on the website to read the lyrics to try to get a feel for it, so I understand what the artist is trying to get across. I like all types of music – last night I found myself listening to country music, but predominantly it would be hip-hop,” he explained.
Anya has never played international football. At present, he carries a Scottish international passport but is eligible to represent Nigeria at full international level.
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