My Father Encouraged Me To Join Al Ittihad – Plumptre

Super Falcons defender Ashleigh Plumptre has revealed how her father persuaded her to join Saudi club Al Ittihad.

The 25-year-old, who made 62 appearances during her three-year tenure at Leicester City, departed the club following the expiration of her contract.

In an interview with BBC Sport, Plumptre admitted that she initially had reservations about the move until she spoke with the club’s management and visited Saudi Arabia herself.

“I spoke to several teams in the UK, US, and Europe, then Dad mentioned there was a team in Saudi Arabia interested in me. I was taken aback. My first reaction was ‘no’, but I wanted to give them a chance.”

“I had an hour-long conversation with the coach and two members of the management staff, and I told Dad, ‘I have a really good feeling about this. We barely even discussed football; we talked about ourselves and what we were passionate about.’

“I’m someone who relies on feeling and intuition. However, I wanted to visit – I wanted to see what it was really like. I spent two days there and really liked it, and when I left, I thought ‘this is where I want to be.’”