Watford and Nigeria’s Dennis 'could cry when Arsenal lost’ and no longer supports Gunners

Watford striker Emmanuel Dennis has revealed he stopped supporting Premier League side Arsenal because they would bring him to tears when they lost.

The 25-year-old Nigeria international is currently playing for the Hornets in the Premier League after he signed a five-year contract on June 21, 2020, arriving from Club Brugge.

Dennis, who scored his debut goal in the 3-2 win against Aston Villa, has gone ahead to establish himself as among the key strikers at Vicarage Road, as he has managed six goals from 14 appearances.

The former FC Koln player has revealed the reason he dropped his support for Arsenal and his ambition to become a priest when he was a young boy in Nigeria.

“I used to be an Arsenal fan. I like Cesc Fabregas. But I'm no more an Arsenal fan. I was so much into Arsenal sometimes I could cry when they lose. That wasn't good for me,” Dennis said as quoted by SkySports.

“So I was like, ‘nah, I’m going to stick to myself and don’t care much because it’s not good for my health’. It's just me and myself right now.”

On his dreams of being a priest, Dennis explained: “No, I never dreamed of being a professional football player. I wanted to be a priest but today I'm a baller.

“I grew up in a family that believes so much in God and going to church. As a young boy, I'd go to church and admire the priest, and I was like, 'yeah, I want to be a priest'. I was 13 or 14.

“I was growing up and I was good at football and everyone was telling me, 'you should be a footballer because you play really good'. And my family were like, 'no he needs to go to school'. And then they were like 'OK...' and they pushed me and I'm here.”

On Watford manager Claudio Ranieri’s promise to take him to Salt Bae’s Nusr-Et when they keep a clean sheet, the Super Eagle said: “He promised for every clean sheet a dinner. And I walked up to him after the Man Utd game and said, ‘you need to pay for dinner’ and he said, ‘it wasn't a clean sheet!'.

“I said, ‘you’re lucky but we'll try next week to keep a clean sheet so you can pay for dinner’. A very expensive one! I like meat, so it's going to be Salt Bae…that one’s expensive.

“He’s a very experienced manager, he's won the Premier League before. He’s very good. You can see his mentality is 'hard work and give everything on the pitch'.

“You can see he’s impacting the team positively. We just have to listen more to him and try to understand his style of football in a very fast way, which we really need to. But he's very good, I'm happy he's here.”

Dennis also explained what he will do during the Christmas period: “I like to clown around with my friends, make jokes, tease people. I like to laugh and joke around with my friends. I like to have fun, watch movies with my friends and be happy.

“Favourite movie? Blue Streak - Martin Lawrence. Favourite Christmas film? Home Alone!”

The Super Eagle will hope to add to his six Premier League goals when Watford travel to face Brentford on Friday.