We’re sat in a small room at St Mirren’s coaching floor on a brilliant crisp day in the midst of the week. The rising sound of voices and studs scraping alongside concrete point out the top of coaching and the beginning of lunch.
In walks the imposing determine of Dan Nlundulu, a smile on his face and his hand outstretched. Oblivious to the ahead, there’s a motivational signal behind him on the bottom which is presumably in want of reacquainting itself with a nail and a few wall house.
It reads: ‘You’ll be able to inspire by worry, you may inspire by reward. However the one actual lasting motivation is self-motivation.’
It feels completely apt given the person in our midst. Nlundulu’s inner-drive and expertise took him to a dozen appearances for Southampton within the Premier League.
He encountered myriad bodily challenges, disappointments and abuse as he tried to navigate within the unforgiving environs of England’s League One.
He moved to the Paisley membership final summer season with some extent to show to his doubters and detractors. A League Cup winner’s medal collected towards Celtic was fairly the riposte.
Dan Nlundulu believes he has what it takes to return to the Premier League
St Mirren are going by a sticky spell within the league however Dan Nlundulu has impressed
Dan Nlundulu has been unfortunate with accidents however at 26, he nonetheless has time on his facet
Nonetheless aged 26, the ahead feels he’s solely getting began on his ‘to do’ listing. He makes no bones a few return to the higher echelon of the English recreation being the eventual purpose.
‘That’s my ambition, you recognize,’ he said. ‘I had a very good begin right here. I’ve gone by slightly (sticky) spell, however for strikers, issues can change in a short time.
‘100 per cent my purpose is to return to that degree and, by God’s grace, I’ll.’
His preliminary ascent within the recreation owes one thing to serendipity. Born inside an extended throw-in of the Eiffel Tower, Nlundulu’s opening inadvertently got here through to his older brother Gael who was on the books of Paris Saint-Germain as a youth.
‘He was a youth worldwide for France at the moment and he had just a few Premier League golf equipment him together with Tottenham, Arsenal and Portsmouth,’ he defined.
‘However Tottenham and Arsenal have been solely scholarship kinds of factor and Portsmouth was extra like a first-team contract.
‘Portsmouth allowed their household to return over. They’d maintain us. So, he went there and we went too. We stayed not removed from the stadium.
‘So, I’m really a Portsmouth boy. I went to highschool there. My sister nonetheless lives there.’
In these days of Sulley Muntari, Nwankwo Kanu, Harry Redknapp and the FA Cup, Pompey was fairly the place to be.
Dan Nlundulu moved to Portsmouth from France on the very begin of his profession
Nlundulu was additionally a part of the system as a child, however his goals and people of many others like him have been dashed when the membership entered administration for the primary time in 2009.
‘I used to be additionally enjoying some Sunday League,’ he recalled.
‘Our workforce had his assistant referred to as Gary Stanley who was at Chelsea within the 80s. He’d some connections there.
‘’However as a result of Portsmouth have been in administration, they requested for cash.
‘At that age, it was an excessive amount of, so Chelsea stated no. So, I went again to simply Sunday League.
‘Fortuitously, we additionally had this factor referred to as Portsmouth Faculties. We performed Southampton. They’d a scout and so they supplied me a trial.
‘At first, I stated no as a result of I had this drawback with Portsmouth and the very fact they’d ask for compensation.
‘My dad and mom had returned to France by then, however my sister instructed me it was a possibility of a lifetime. I used to be fairly heartbroken with what occurred at Chelsea, so I wasn’t actually too motivated to go, however I did. It’s in all probability the perfect determination I’ve ever made in my life to this point.
‘Inside two days, I bought signed. I don’t know in the event that they paid the compensation, however they bought all of it sorted.’
The 20-mile day by day commute to coaching from the household dwelling introduced some sensible difficulties.
‘Portsmouth and Southampton are large rivals,’ Nlundulu smiled. ‘I lived actually a five-minute stroll from Fratton Park.
‘Going to coaching every day on a practice, I used to be meant to put on my Southampton equipment. However typically I couldn’t as a result of there have been followers round, so I needed to get modified on the practice when it approached the station.’
He’d have made the journey by foot in a swimsuit of armour if he’d needed to.
Underneath the stewardship of Ralph Hasenhuttl, Saints again then boasted a rollcall of centre-forwards from which Nlundulu deliberate to study.
‘There was Che Adams, Danny Ings and Charlie Austin. Shane Lengthy was there as properly – one of many older heads,’ he stated.
‘We did a lot ending observe again then. However typically I wouldn’t even take part, I’d simply stand and watch. It was an excellent expertise.’
His first-team debut beneath the Austrian got here towards Everton in October 2020.
‘It was Covid time on the time so there have been no followers. The surroundings felt extra like a beneath 23s recreation,’ he recalled.
‘However clearly if you got here on the pitch, you may see the standard. Carlo Ancelotti was their supervisor on the time.’
Additional run outs got here towards sides of the ilk of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester Metropolis and Man Utd. He was retaining exulted firm within the type of Fabinho, David Luiz, Ruben Dias and Victor Lindelof.
‘I didn’t play a variety of minutes, however he put me on quite a bit,’ Nlundulu mirrored.
Despatched out on mortgage to Lincoln the next 12 months to realize expertise, he discovered Girl Luck a stranger.
‘I tore my hamstring twice in six months,’ he defined.
‘Within the January, I went to Cheltenham. I performed 5 video games, scored one purpose and bought injured once more.’
His return to Cheltenham initially of the next season was extra fulfilling. A mortgage swap to Bolton for the second half proved much less so.
‘We had a variety of good strikers, so it was fairly powerful to get some recreation time,’ he recalled.
‘Ian Evatt was unbelievable for me. An incredible supervisor and nice human being.
‘Sadly, we misplaced within the semi-final towards Barnsley within the play-off semis.
‘I’d a 12 months left at Southampton, however Ian texted me and requested if I’d include them a everlasting as a result of we need to obtain one thing. I needed to go.’
The potential of the membership had been illustrated after they received the EFL Trophy towards Plymouth in entrance of 79,389 at Wembley.
‘I used to be cup tied as I’d performed in it with Cheltenham,’ stated Nlundulu.
‘It was an excellent day, however a bit bittersweet when you may’t really get entangled.’
Harm then prevented him from enjoying on the English recreation’s citadel on the finish of 2023-24. A shock defeat to Oxford within the play-off closing added insult to the state of affairs.
‘We had an excellent workforce on the time,’ he recalled.
Dan Nlundulu helped Stephen Robinson’s facet win the League Cup towards Celtic final 12 months
‘Conor Bradley and James Trafford have been there. I don’t understand how we didn’t stand up routinely. We nonetheless speak about it.’
It was to be nearly as good because it bought. With Bolton having missed out on the play-offs final season and on-line abuse changing into insupportable, Nlundulu was open to the change of surroundings St Mirren supplied him.
‘A few St Mirren gamers went to Bolton – Richard Taylor and Ethan Erhahon,’ he continued.
‘When the gaffer rang them about what I’m like as a participant, as an individual, they gave their opinion. For me, it was a no brainer.
‘At Southampton, I used to be with Callum Slattery, who’s now at Motherwell.
‘I’d been watching him, so I’d an concept about Scottish soccer.’
Their reunion within the League Cup semi-final was a chastening expertise for Slattery together with his previous pal scoring in a 4-1 rout.
By no means earlier than had St Mirren arrived in a closing with such an air of confidence. It was wholly justified with Stephen Robinson’s males easing to a 3-1 win.
‘It was emotional, man, as a result of I had my household and my greatest associates from Portsmouth there,’ he stated of the ultimate whistle.
‘I’d had fairly a tough time at Bolton. You know the way followers might be after they don’t actually know you as an individual. I used to be injured quite a bit and so they had opinions about me. You’re not going to be the primary or the final one, however as a participant, I suppose you simply take it, you recognize.
‘I bought some racial abuse on Instagram. Coming from that to St Mirren in just a few months and successful a trophy, particularly towards arguably the perfect workforce in Scotland, it meant quite a bit to me.
‘Constructing as much as that recreation, you may see how a lot it meant to the followers as properly.
‘It was wonderful particularly after we went to City Corridor. To have the followers there, to raise the trophy in entrance of them….’
His voice trails off because the reminiscences of the day his private redemption arc was accomplished come flooding again.
The large man with the comfortable voice and an endearing story to inform overcame no little adversity to achieve that defining level in his life. He’s able to deal with extra.
