Given the quality of Wilson Oruma’s display for Sochaux at the Stade Louis II in November 2004, it is hardly surprising that Monaco Coach Didier Deschamps said shortly afterwards that he was keen to sign the Nigerian playmaker. Deschamps ultimately missed out as Oruma opted for a move to Marseille in the summer of 2005.

But on that cold evening in Monaco, Oruma was at his elusive, probing and devastating best

He scored Sochaux’s second goal in the 3-1 win with a low 25-yard drive that sizzled into the corner, leaving Flavio Roma with no chance. But it was his ability to trigger counterattacks from deep inside his own half that caused the 2004 Champions’ League finalists the biggest problems.

Oruma produced similar displays on a regular basis in the 2003/04 season, including a magical performance in the 4-0 UEFA Cup thrashing of Borussia Dortmund.

Unfortunately for Sochaux - and now Marseille - no one knows whether it will be the dazzling or the disinterested Oruma that turns up on a Saturday evening. “Wilson was wonderful tonight,” then-Sochaux Coach Guy Lacombe declared after the Monaco match. “If he played like that every week he’d be a world-beater.”

He doesn’t, though, and as a result struggles to command a place in the Nigeria squad. That someone of Oruma’s talent is not playing international football is a crying shame. His close dribbling skills – not dissimilar to those of compatriot Jay-Jay Okocha – direct running and powerful shooting, would certainly add extra spice to the Super Eagles.

It is not only at international level that Oruma is frustrating people. Sochaux fans were frequently left pulling their hair out at because of his inconsistency - and his refusal to sign an extension to his contract which expired in June 2004. Their anger was understandable considering the fact that Sochaux helped Oruma launch his career by rescuing him from Servette in 2002.