Onuachu remembers his roots, rewards grassroots coach with brand new car

By Angu Lesley

Football Writer,kick442.com-Cameroon

Paul Ebere Onuachu has offered a refreshing reminder that success does not have to erase the people who helped create it, after rewarding his former grassroots coach, Hyginus Okoye, with a brand new car in Lagos. The Trabzonspor and Super Eagles striker’s gesture is rooted in gratitude to the men who guided him during the early stages of his career at Young Stars FC in Satellite Town, long before his name became known across European football.

Okoye worked alongside Young Stars founder and head coach Osahon Emokpae, who also played an important role in Onuachu’s formative years. From Young Stars, the towering striker moved to FC Ebedie in Sagamu, where owner and respected players’ representative Barrister Churchill Oliseh helped facilitate his move to FC Midtjylland in Denmark. Onuachu has apparently never forgotten those early connections, having previously gifted Emokpae a car and reportedly spent more than ₦5 million trying to support the coach during his final illness before his death from diabetes complications.

The latest gesture to Okoye comes against the backdrop of a career that has taken Onuachu from Denmark to Belgium, England and Turkey. He scored the winning goal against Manchester United in the 2016 UEFA Europa League, became Belgium’s top scorer with 33 goals for Genk during the 2020/21 season and was also joint top scorer in Turkey with 22 goals for Trabzonspor in the 2025/26 campaign. Yet despite those achievements, the striker continues to look back towards the people and places that helped shape his journey.

Okoye, now head coach of Young Stars, described the gift as the best he had ever received, expressing his appreciation for the striker. “Now I don’t have to continue walking when going for training. I’ll just enter my car and calmly drive down. It can only be Paul Onuachu. Just one Onuachu and things become easy. God will continue to bless Paul Onuachu,” he told Sports247. The striker’s generosity has also extended to Young Stars, with Onuachu donating more than 50 pairs of football boots, jerseys, training vests, shin guards and footballs to the club earlier this year.

Beyond football, Onuachu is also investing heavily in his ancestral community in Imo State, where he is personally funding a modern health centre in Amakohia, Owerri West Local Government Area, reportedly valued at ₦612 million. His latest gift to Okoye therefore fits into a broader pattern of giving back, but perhaps its greatest significance lies in its message: Onuachu has not forgotten the people who believed in him before the goals, European contracts and international recognition. In a game where success can sometimes create distance from humble beginnings, his continued gratitude to those who helped him along the way is becoming part of his legacy.