Dan Udoh interview: Salford forward on training with Paul Scholes, working at a chicken factory and closing in on 50 EFL goals

In the lead-up to the end of last summer's transfer window, Dan Udoh received a call from a number he did not recognise.

He missed it initially, but saved the number to WhatsApp. The profile picture would surely shed some light, wouldn't it?

No such luck.

Then the phone rang again. This time he answered. "Hi Dan, it's Paul," said the caller.

"I was like, 'Paul who?' Udoh recounts, with a chuckle, as he speaks to Sky Sports.

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"It turned out to be Paul Scholes! I was starstruck because I've been a Man United fan since I was young.

"To have one of your heroes that you looked up to and watched growing up call you to tell you to come to his team… that was enough for me!"

On September 1, Deadline Day, Udoh signed a two-year contract to join Salford from Wycombe for an undisclosed fee.

It was touch-and-go at time, as the Chairboys wanted to sign a replacement before they sanctioned his departure. The drama of it all was captured in the below episode of 'This is Salford', posted on the club's official YouTube channel.

Udoh said then, and still says now, the ambition of the club was one of the driving factors in his pursuit of the move. But equally as important was the chance to move back north after a season in Buckinghamshire.

"I'm from north west London originally, but football takes you everywhere," he says.

"I lived in Telford played for Telford and Shrewsbury for six, seven years, got married around there, had my little boy around there and then bought our house around there.

"My missus' family are from Widnes, which is 20 minutes, half-an-hour from Warrington where we're living and that's half-an-hour from Salford, so it just made sense.

"I'm a big believer in God and I always think God plans everything how he wants it to go. You just have to fall into the line."

It is often said in football that if a player is happy and settled off the pitch, half the battle is won - and that move north does seem to have worked wonders for Udoh.

Not that he had a bad season last season by any stretch. In 41 games, he scored nine goals and provided three assists as Wycombe reached the Sky Bet League One play-offs.

But this season - which started with six league games at Wycombe - in 32 appearances in all competitions, the 29-year-old has eight goals and nine assists.

"I'd like the goals figure to be higher!" he says.

"Assists had never really been a thing in my head, but it's always good to chip in because goal contribution is massive nowadays, isn't it? Being involved in goals is my main aim and that wins games at the end of the day.

"If I'm getting marked out of the game or not scoring on that day, it's being able to put it on the plate for other teammates. I'm not a selfish player. If someone's in a better position than me and I think it's going to benefit the team, I'll always pass the ball to them and I expect the same from them to me."

Working with Karl Robinson has been beneficial.

"I've always liked when the manager is brutally honest with me," Udoh adds.

"He wears his heart on his sleeve and he tells me what I need to hear at the right times.

"I've had it before where you don't quite get the info from the manager and you don't know where you stand, but with him, I know where I stand most games, most weeks, which helps me have clarity of what he wants me to do.

"He has a structure of how he wants us to defend and how he wants us to attack. But then at the top end of the pitch, he leaves the strikers with a lot of freedom to go and smell out goals.

"As an older, more experienced player - I didn't think I'd ever say that! - he lets me use things I've had from the past to bring into now and it's bearing fruit."

The Class of 92 influence is strong, too.

"Scholesy is pretty much here all the time and sometimes he joins in with us in training.

"The other week, he told us he couldn't properly go in because he wasn't wearing boots. But when he was playing, he didn't lose the ball once, so didn't actually even need to go in! The standard of player he still is now is crazy.

"We can go to him and ask what his thoughts were about the game because he's there most of the time.

"The defenders had a meeting with Gary Neville a few weeks back and the team have gone to have more clean sheets as of recent. Things like that help boost the team."

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Udoh played 20 times for Crewe across 2015/16 and 2016/17, but it was not until 2019/20 that he was playing regular football in the Sky Bet EFL.

Now, he only needs two more goals to reach 50 in the top four divisions.

He still has to pinch himself from time to time.

"I would have never thought I'd be a professional footballer playing in the EFL. That was always the goal and the aim, but at times, that looked quite far away.

"I worked as a fish and chip delivery driver, I worked in a chicken factory, I was a carer… I worked so many jobs.

"But I come from a hard-working family so, from a young age, our parents used to always tell us, whatever you do - whether you're a bin man, a cleaner, whatever - just do it to the best of your ability. That's what I tried to take to my football games and life in general.

"Being able to say I've played almost 250 league games is a testament to all the people that have believed in me and given me an opportunity, the managers I've worked with in the past and just always told me to believe in myself and push myself as much as I can.

"I've got a mentality of never say never and just keep working hard - you never know what's going to come of it."

It will come as no surprise he wants to "go for gold" and help Salford to win the League Two title.

"A good season for me is promotion. I came here to win and that's what I want to do." Udoh adds.

"And even if - God forbid, touch wood - I don't score from now to the end of the season and we get promoted, I'll be really happy with that."

Watch Salford vs Newport in Sky Bet League Two live on Sky Sports+ on Tuesday February 17; kick-off 7.45pm

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