Kojo Peprah Oppong ‘surprised’ by start to life at OGC Nice | OneFootball

Kojo Peprah Oppong (21) joined OGC Nice for a nominal fee from Swedish side Norrkoping earlier in the summer. The Ghanaian defender has played a prominent role so far, much to his own surprise.

Bar the first leg of Nice’s first leg defeat to SL Benfica in UEFA Champions League qualifying at the start of August, when he came off the bench, Oppong has started every game for Le Gym. He started against FC Nantes on Saturday, too, despite the return of club captain Dante from injury.

The centre-back has admitted that he didn’t expect to feature so prominently, so quickly. “I’m surprised,” admitted Oppong in a mixed zone interview attended by Get French Football News.

Dante hands advice to Oppong

He added, “I am taking it step by step. I didn’t expect to play this much in the beginning, but I’m now playing a lot and I expect a lot from myself.” The Ghanaian also said that he received some words of wisdom from Dante post-match.

“It was really good to have him back. He helps us young players a lot. I spoke to him after the game and it was good to have some feedback from him. He said that it is important to manage the game, to save some energy, and especially when we are leading, not to attack too much as centre-backs. That was really good advice,” he said.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle – reporting from Nice