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.
“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.
Image:
Man Utd legend Paul Scholes continues to be involved at Salford
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.”
Image:
Udoh joined Salford from Wycombe last summer
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…
2026-02-10 10:00:00
