Harambee Stars winger's youth coach tips him to feature for Real Madrid or Barcelona

Job Ochieng’s former youth coach, Iddi Badi, believes the Harambee Stars winger possesses all the right qualities needed to eventually play for European giants Real Madrid or FC Barcelona if his development continues on the current upward trajectory.

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The Kibera Black Stars head coach, who played a major role in the attacker’s early development before his move abroad, says Ochieng’s rise in Spain is only scratching the surface of what the youngster can eventually become.

Ochieng is currently in the books of Real Sociedad after signing a two-year contract extension in February, becoming the latest academy graduate to break into the club’s senior ranks following an impressive breakthrough campaign across both the first team and the reserve side, Real Sociedad B, commonly known as Sanse.

The Kenyan attacker officially announced himself in Spanish football after making his La Liga debut for the senior side against Elche on Saturday, 7 February.

He became one of the few Kenyan players to feature in Spain’s top flight, with the appearance marking another significant milestone in a journey that has steadily gathered momentum over the last few years.

Beyond the league, the youngster also played a role in Sociedad’s successful Copa del Rey campaign after featuring in the semi-finals against Athletic Bilbao before the club eventually defeated Atlético Madrid on penalties in the final.

Away from the senior side, the winger has also emerged as one of the standout performers for Real Sociedad B in the Segunda Division, with one of his memorable moments coming against Málaga CF, where he scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory that helped move the side away from relegation danger.

Having closely monitored his growth from his early days at Ligi Ndogo, Badi believes Spanish football provides the perfect environment for the youngster to continue sharpening his qualities and eventually compete at the very highest level of the game.

“In Spain, comparing it to the EPL, I think they develop young players more, and I believe in the next five years Job is one of the players that will be playing for top La Liga teams like Real Madrid or even Barcelona,” Badi told Mozzart Sport.

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The tactician, who spent years mentoring the player during his formative stages, says Ochieng possesses several natural attacking attributes that make him difficult for defenders to contain.

“He is more of an attacker, and he understands positioning very well. A striker is someone who knows how to position himself, and with his attacking skills, strength and movement, he makes defenders uncomfortable all the time,” he explained.

The gaffer further revealed that Ochieng’s ability to adapt quickly in Spain was not accidental, noting that the foundations had already been laid during his development years at Ligi Ndogo Academy.

The Academy focuses heavily on technical growth and exposing players to professional standards from an early age.

The coach recalled how one of the academy’s football camps in Spain became a turning point in reshaping how they approached youth development back home.

According to Badi, the trip opened their eyes to the amount of training hours young European players are exposed to weekly, prompting them to redesign their own development structure once they returned to Kenya.

“Being a coach at Ligi Ndogo Academy also helped because the academy strongly believes in developing players technically. In Europe, they pay a lot of attention to the number of hours young players train every week,” he said.

“There was a time we travelled to Spain, and that is one of the biggest concepts we learnt because they asked us how many hours our players were training in a week.”

“When we came back home, we sat down with the academy director and felt we needed to introduce the same concept here, and that is why we created a team called Planets, where players trained four times a week.”

It was within that demanding environment that Ochieng began separating himself from many players within his age bracket.

According to the coach, the winger was placed under a special development programme that ensured he received more training hours and more tactical exposure than most of his peers, something the coach now believes prepared him mentally and physically for European football.

“So when you look at a player like Job, we gave him more training hours because he was not training just twice a week. We made it tougher for him so that when he eventually moved to Europe, he would already have the capacity to cope,” Badi revealed.

The success story of Ochieng has now become a major source of motivation for the academy coach, who believes even more exciting talents are quietly emerging from Ligi Ndogo and could soon follow a similar path abroad.

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Badi insists seeing one of his former players thriving in Europe has only strengthened his hunger to continue nurturing young footballers from the streets of Kibera into professional footballers.

“Job is one of the players Ligi Ndogo has developed, and we still believe there are more talents coming through. Soon you will see more players from Ligi Ndogo,” he said.

“It keeps us going because as a coach you feel you can still do more, and when you see one of your players succeeding in Europe, you realise the work you are doing on the ground is paying off, and it gives you more morale to continue developing others.”

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The Harambee Stars winger has already established himself as one of the most dangerous attacking players for the Sanse side this season, with six of his eight goals coming during a blistering five-match stretch earlier this year, a run that earned him recognition as the best player of March in LaLiga Hypermotion.