‘It’s shea butter’ – Wilfred Ndidi debunks Jamie Vardy’s ‘juju cream’ injury recovery claim

Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has laughed off Jamie Vardy’s claim that he and fellow Nigerian Kelechi Iheanacho relied on “juju cream” to speed up injury recovery during their years together at Leicester City.

The Besiktas midfielder insisted the mysterious ointment was nothing more than natural shea butter.

Ndidi addressed the viral comments in a video shared on his Instagram page on Monday after Vardy suggested the Nigerian pair regularly returned from brief trips home carrying a special cream they claimed came from a “witch doctor.”

“It’s ori (natural shea butter), and anytime we came back, he would ask, and we’d say, ‘Oh! It’s from a witch doctor in Nigeria,’” Ndidi said humorously.

“And when we said, ‘Let’s use it on you,’ he always said no, even when we told him he would score more goals.”

Vardy made the remarks on the latest episode of his Jamie Vardy’s Having a Party podcast while reflecting on his time with the Nigerian internationals at Leicester.

“They used to get injured. Little knocks, then go back to Nigeria for just one day. They come back with a nice big tub of juju cream,” Vardy said.

“That was the only thing that the masseuse was allowed to apply to the injured area. They used to tell us that it had come from a Nigerian witch doctor.”

Ndidi’s explanation confirmed the pair were simply teasing their teammates, with the cream actually being ori, a traditional Nigerian shea butter.

Ndidi, Iheanacho and Vardy played together at Leicester City from 2017 to 2024, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield during their successful spell with the Foxes.