And while the defender waited for a dream Three Lions call-up, the then Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts spoke with him ahead of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ndidi, heaped plaudits on his wife Chidinma and his small circle of friends who have kept on his toes in recent years. "My circle of friends is very small, and they are people who are straight in their assertions.
"At the end of the day, if you are going to get your team on the score sheet, you have got to make brave decisions, and that was a brave header at the back post by Kelechi Iheanacho. "That is why he gets my man of the match."