We’re sat in a small room at St Mirren’s training ground on a bright crisp day in the middle of the week. The rising sound of voices and studs scraping along concrete indicate the end of training and the start of lunch.
In walks the imposing figure of Dan Nlundulu, a smile on his face and his hand outstretched. Oblivious to the forward, there’s a motivational sign behind him on the ground which is presumably in need of reacquainting itself with a nail and some wall space.
It reads: ‘You can motivate by fear, you can motivate by reward. But the only real lasting motivation is self-motivation.’
It feels entirely apt given the man in our midst. Nlundulu’s inner-drive and talent took him to a dozen appearances for Southampton in the Premier League.
He encountered myriad physical challenges, disappointments and abuse as he tried to navigate in the unforgiving environs of England’s League One.
He moved to the Paisley club last summer with a point to prove to his doubters and detractors. A League Cup winner’s medal collected against Celtic was quite the riposte.
Dan Nlundulu believes he has what it takes to return to the Premier League
St Mirren are going through a sticky spell in the league but Dan Nlundulu has impressed
Dan Nlundulu has been unlucky with injuries but at 26, he still has time on his side
Still aged 26, the forward feels he’s only getting started on his ‘to do’ list. He makes no bones about a return to the upper echelon of the English game being the eventual aim.
‘That’s my ambition, you know,’ he stated. ‘I had a good start here. I’ve gone through a little (sticky) spell, but for strikers, things can change very quickly.
‘One hundred per cent my goal is to go back to that level and, by God’s grace, I will.’
His initial ascent in the game owes something to serendipity. Born within a long throw-in of the Eiffel Tower, Nlundulu’s opening inadvertently came via to his older brother Gael who was on the books of Paris Saint-Germain as a youth.
‘He was a youth international for France at that time and he had a few Premier League clubs looking at him including Tottenham, Arsenal and Portsmouth,’ he explained.
‘But Tottenham and Arsenal were only scholarship types of thing and Portsmouth was more like a first-team contract.
‘Portsmouth allowed their family to come over. They’d take care of us. So, he went there and we went too. We stayed not far from the stadium.
‘So, I’m actually a Portsmouth boy. I went to school there. My sister still lives there.’
In those days of Sulley Muntari, Nwankwo Kanu, Harry Redknapp and the FA Cup, Pompey was quite the place to be.
Dan Nlundulu moved to Portsmouth from France at the very start of his career
Nlundulu was also part of the system as a kid, but his dreams and those of many others like him were dashed when the club entered administration for the first time in 2009.
‘I was also playing some Sunday League,’ he recalled.
‘Our team had his assistant called Gary Stanley who used to be at Chelsea in the 80s. He’d some connections there.
‘’But because Portsmouth were in administration, they asked for money.
‘At that age, it was too much, so Chelsea said no. So, I went back to just Sunday League.
‘Fortunately, we also had this thing called Portsmouth Schools. We played Southampton. They’d a scout and they offered me a trial.
‘At first, I said no because I had this problem with Portsmouth and the fact they’d ask for compensation.
‘My parents had returned to France by then, but my sister told me it was an opportunity of a lifetime. I was quite heartbroken with what happened at Chelsea, so I wasn’t really too motivated to go, but I did. It’s probably the best decision I’ve ever made in my life so far.
‘Within two days, I got signed. I don’t know if they paid the compensation, but they got it all sorted.’
The 20-mile daily commute to training from the family home presented some practical difficulties.
‘Portsmouth and Southampton are big rivals,’ Nlundulu smiled. ‘I lived literally a five-minute walk from Fratton Park.
‘Going to training each day on a train, I was meant to wear my Southampton kit. But sometimes I couldn’t because there were fans around, so I had to get changed on the train when it approached the station.’
He’d have made the journey by foot in a suit of armour if he’d had to.
Under the stewardship of Ralph Hasenhuttl, Saints back then boasted a rollcall of centre-forwards from which Nlundulu planned to learn.
‘There was Che Adams, Danny Ings and Charlie Austin. Shane Long was there as well – one of the older heads,’ he said.
‘We did so much finishing practice back then. But sometimes I wouldn’t even participate, I would just stand and watch. It was a great experience.’
His first-team debut under the Austrian came against Everton in October 2020.
‘It was Covid time at the time so there were no fans. The environment felt more like a under 23s game,’ he recalled.
‘But obviously when you came on the pitch, you could see the quality. Carlo Ancelotti was their manager at the time.’
Further run outs came against sides of the ilk of Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City and Man Utd. He was keeping exulted company in the form of Fabinho, David Luiz, Ruben Dias and Victor Lindelof.
‘I didn’t play a lot of minutes, but he put me on a lot,’ Nlundulu reflected.
Sent out on loan to Lincoln the following year to gain experience, he found Lady Luck a stranger.
‘I tore my hamstring twice in six months,’ he explained.
‘In the January, I went to Cheltenham. I played five games, scored one goal and got injured again.’
His return to Cheltenham at the start of the following season was more fulfilling. A loan switch to Bolton for the second half proved less so.
‘We had a lot of good strikers, so it was quite tough to get some game time,’ he recalled.
‘Ian Evatt was unbelievable for me. A great manager and great human being.
‘Unfortunately, we lost in the semi-final against Barnsley in the play-off semis.
‘I’d a year left at Southampton, but Ian texted me and asked if I would come with them a permanent because we want to achieve something. I had to go.’
The potential of the club had been illustrated when they won the EFL Trophy against Plymouth in front of 79,389 at Wembley.
‘I was cup tied as I’d played in it with Cheltenham,’ said Nlundulu.
‘It was a great day, but a bit bittersweet when you can’t actually get involved.’
Injury then prevented him from playing at the English game’s citadel at the end of 2023-24. A shock defeat to Oxford in the play-off final added insult to the situation.
‘We had a great team at the time,’ he recalled.
Dan Nlundulu helped Stephen Robinson’s side win the League Cup against Celtic last year
‘Conor Bradley and James Trafford were there. I don’t know how we didn’t get up automatically. We still talk about it.’
It was to be as good as it got. With Bolton having missed out on the play-offs last season and online abuse becoming intolerable, Nlundulu was open to the change of scenery St Mirren offered him.
‘A couple of St Mirren players went to Bolton – Richard Taylor and Ethan Erhahon,’ he continued.
‘When the gaffer rang them about what I am like as a player, as a person, they gave their opinion. For me, it was a no-brainer.
‘At Southampton, I was with Callum Slattery, who’s now at Motherwell.
‘I’d been watching him, so I’d an idea about Scottish football.’
Their reunion in the League Cup semi-final was a chastening experience for Slattery with his old pal scoring in a 4-1 rout.
Never before had St Mirren arrived in a final with such an air of confidence. It was wholly justified with Stephen Robinson’s men easing to a 3-1 win.
‘It was emotional, man, because I had my family and my best friends from Portsmouth there,’ he said of the final whistle.
‘I’d had quite a hard time at Bolton. You know how fans can be when they don’t really know you as a person. I was injured quite a lot and they had opinions about me. You’re not going to be the first or the last one, but as a player, I guess you just take it, you know.
‘I got some racial abuse on Instagram. Coming from that to St Mirren in a few months and winning a trophy, especially against arguably the best team in Scotland, it meant a lot to me.
‘Building up to that game, you can see how much it meant to the fans as well.
‘It was amazing especially when we went to Town Hall. To have the fans there, to lift the trophy in front of them….’
His voice trails off as the memories of the day his personal redemption arc was completed come flooding back.
The big man with the soft voice and an endearing story to tell overcame no little adversity to reach that defining point in his life. He’s ready to tackle more.
