Ovie Dominic Ejaria (born 18 November 1997) is an English professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a midfielder for

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

. He is a former England under-21 international.

Club career

Ejaria was born in

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, Greater London. He grew up supporting

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for whom he played for nine years before signing for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in 2014. His first competitive call-up came on 16 September 2016 in a

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

match against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He was an unused substitute in Liverpool's 2–1 victory. Four days later, he made his first-team debut against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, replacing

Roberto Firmino Roberto Firmino Barbosa de Oliveira (born 2 October 1991) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a forward or attacking midfielder for club Liverpool and the Brazil national team. After starting his career with Figueirense in 20 ...

in a 3–0 victory. On 25 October, Ejaria made his full debut in the fourth round of the EFL Cup in a 2–1 win over against

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

. On 6 November 2016, he debuted in the Premier League, coming on as a substitute in Liverpool's 6–1 home win over

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

. On 31 January 2018, Ejaria made a deadline day switch to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, signing on

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for the remainder of the season. He made 11 appearances in total as the club were relegated to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

. His only goal, and his first in senior football, came in the final match of the regular season when he opened the scoring in a 3–0 win over the eventual league champions,

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

. In June 2018, Ejaria moved on loan to

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Rangers for the 2018–19 season, managed by former Liverpool captain and academy coach

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...

, after signing a new long-term contract with Liverpool. He made his debut on 12 July, coming on as a second-half substitute in Rangers' 2–0

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

win over Macedonian team Shkupi. He scored his first goal for the club in a Scottish Premiership match against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

on 26 August. Four days later on 30 August he scored against Russian Premier League team FC Ufa in the away leg of the Europa League Play-off Round, the 1–1 result sent Rangers into the Group stage 2–1 on aggregate. In December 2018 his loan was curtailed earlier than planned and he returned to training with Liverpool. On 7 January 2019, Ejaria joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

on loan until the end of the 2018–19 season. He rejoined Reading on 8 August on loan for the 2019–20 season, with Reading having an obligation to sign Ejaria permanently at the end of the season. On 2 July, Reading confirmed that Ejaria's loan deal from Liverpool had been extended until the end of July to account for prolonged 2019–20 season. On 28 August 2020, Ejaria signed a permanent four-year contract with Reading which would earn him an annual salary of £650,000.

International career

Ejaria is eligible to represent England or Nigeria internationally. He trained with the Nigeria under-17 team in 2013 and stated that his international allegiance lay with the country in 2014. However, despite rumours of a senior Nigeria call up being in the offing, Ejaria accepted a call up to the

England U20 England national under-20 football team, also known as England Under-20s or England U20(s), represents England in association football at an under-20 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in En ...

team on 30 September 2016. He made his debut for the Under-20 team on 7 October, in a 3–1 win against Germany, playing the whole match. Ejaria was selected for the England under-20 team in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He made his first start in a game in the first round match against South Korea, and came on as a substitute the quarter-final against Mexico, but was an unused substitute in the final where England beat Venezuela 1–0. He was called up for the England under-21 team in March 2018, making his debut in a friendly against Romania. He was called up again in May 2018 for the

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

but had to withdraw from the squad due to an injury. In December 2019, Nigeria national team coach

Gernot Rohr Gernot Rohr (born 28 June 1953) is a German professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of the Nigerian national team. Managerial career In 1996, he managed Girondins de Bordeaux to the UEFA Cup final, whe ...

urged the

Nigeria Football Federation The Nigeria Football Federation (known as Nigeria Football Association until 2008) is Nigeria's football governing body. It was formally launched in 1945 and formed the first Nigerian national football team in 1949. It joined CAF in 1959 and FIF ...

to get Ejaria to switch allegiance to Nigeria.

Career statistics

Honours

England U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

: 2017

References

External links

Profile
at the Reading F.C. website
Profile
at the Liverpool F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ejaria, Ovie 1997 births Living people Footballers from Southwark English footballers England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Arsenal F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Reading F.C. players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players Black British sportspeople English sportspeople of Nigerian descent