Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has responded to Jamie Vardy’s claim that he and Kelechi Iheanacho used “juju cream” to recover from injuries during their time at Leicester City.
Reacting in a video shared on his Instagram page on Monday, Ndidi explained that the ointment Vardy mentioned was actually ori, a natural shea butter commonly used in Nigeria. He said the stories about it coming from a “witch doctor” were simply jokes they told their teammates.
“It’s ori (natural shea butter), and anytime we came back, he would ask, and we’d say, ‘Oh! It’s from a witch doctor in Nigeria,’” Ndidi said.
“And when we said, ‘Let’s use it on you,’ he always said no, even when we told him he would score more goals.”
Vardy had made the comments on an episode of his Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast while reminiscing about his time at Leicester City.
The former England striker claimed Ndidi and Iheanacho would return from brief trips to Nigeria after minor injuries with what he described as “a nice big tub of juju cream,” insisting it was the only ointment they allowed the club’s masseuse to use.
“They used to get injured. Little knocks, then go back to Nigeria for just one day. They come back with a nice big tub of juju cream,” Vardy said.
“That was the only thing that the masseuse was allowed to apply to the injured area. They used to tell us that it had come from a Nigerian witch doctor.”
