Nigerians and the Winter Transfer Window

With the Winter transfer window approaching, it will be interesting which Nigerian players make upward transitions to new clubs. Nigerians have done well in the last few FIFA youth tournaments and the Olympic Football Tournament.

Also Nigerians have been doing well across Europe. An interesting factoid that I discovered was that every Nigerian that was signed to a Segunda (Spanish Second Division) club, led to that club being PROMOTED that year. A list of these player are:

Bartholomew Ogbeche - Valladolid
Abdul Razak Ekpoki - Gimnastic Tarragona
Ike Uche - Recreativo
Kalu Uche - Almeria

That said, it will be interesting to see which Nigerian players move to new clubs. I generally think that Nigerian players are very underrated. Something has tainted the perception of Nigerian players and all the good results in the recent FIFA tournaments has done little to raise the value of our players.

Without further adue here are the players I hope to make positive moves in the Winter break.

1. Osaze Odemwingie
Osaze Odemwingie is a well rounded player. His passes are good, he is healthy, he plays defensively (hard tackling and chasing), he shoots and most importantly he is experienced. To me, he is one of the most underrated players in professional football ... he is in my opinion an awesome player.

Despite this he has racked up medals and major wins throughout his career. Starting in Belgium where he won the FA Cup, to his recent Olympic silver medal.

In June of 2009, Nigeria played a friendly game against France. Osaze Odemwingie tormented the entire French team. When he was not running passes, he was giving out hard tackles and defending. He particularly gave Patrice Evra a torrid time. It got so bad that while the referee was not looking, Patrice Evra ran up to him and kicked him from behind (the ball was very far away on the other side of the field). He

Here is a video of this incredible player:



2. Rabiu Ibrahim
Rabiu has been anointed as the next Jay Jay Okocha. He is a bit smaller than Jay Jay Okocha, but he has a lot of skill and a lot of endurance. What is interesting are his no-look passes. I have not really seen a player do so many of these, but he has passes going all over the place.

He has been anxious to play for his club Sporting Lisbon, but his coach has confined him to the reserves. For the news reports I have read he is on an expiring youth contract (which expires this month). I think he will move!

3. Edward Ofere
To some people he is the next Nwankwo Kanu. He is more like an Emmanuel Adebayor. A tall striker, well spoken and very confident. He played in the Nigerian league with the likes of Nduka Ozokwo and Kelechi Osunwa (well known local champions), but now he plays for Malmo in Sweden. He is a unique player, tall, athletic, skillful and fast - there is some talk of a Newcastle move, but I think he could do better.

4. Michael Eneramo
A fast moving truck is the best way I could describe Eneramo. Michael Eneramo plays in Tunisia for Esperance. He has led the Tunisian league with double digit goal hauls for the past two seasons. It got to the point that Tunisia wanted to cap him. Fortunately Nigeria capped him and he scored an important goal in the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

The word is that he is moving to Standard Liege. I think this a great move and if he does well, especially in the Europa or Champions League, he could move again!


5. Sam Sodje
Perhaps not a well known player. However one should watch his game against France in June. He is a hard playing, physical player, who should be playing in the EPL. Lower ranked EPL teams would do well to add a defensive player like Sodje who is not intimidated by supposedly bigger teams.

6. Patrick Ogunsoto
The Nigerian wild-man. This player has scored every type of goal imaginable. His goals are like a highlight reel. He was a top scorer in Greece, and then he moved to Belgium where he was the top scorer, he then moved back to Greece. The only thing I can say is watch his goals on youtube. If he were in La Liga (which suits his style) he would be a living nightmare for opposing defenses.



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