German giants Borussia Dortmund have lined up a move for Nigeria international midfielder Raphael Onyedika of Belgium side Club Brugge, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Dortmund are looking for a replacement for the injured Felix Nmecha in the January transfer window, and their ideal target is the 23 year old Nigerian, who is expected to be crucial for Club Brugge in today’s UEFA Champions League game against Manchester City.
Tracked by a host of European giants including today’s opponent, Dortmund are however silently confident of getting the deal done ahead of their rivals, as they present an instant route for him to play almost immediately and develop further.
A fee in the region of €30m is what the Belgium side will reportedly demand as his transfer fee, but with their chances of going far in this season’s Champions League still alive they have ruled out any potential deal in the January transfer window, but will be open to offers for him in the summer.
English Premier League side Aston Villa made inquiries about signing the Nigeria international in the summer, but opted to sign Belgian Amadou Onana from Everton due to his Premier League experience.
They are not expected to be in the running in the summer with other top European teams now aware of Onyedika’s amazing statistics this season in the UEFA Champions League.
His stats are comparable to those of PSG’s João Neves, who was highlighted by Uefa’s technical report for his performance in the 4-2 win.
Neves has averaged 10.9 kilometres per match in the Champions League this season, while Onyedika has clocked 10.5km. Onyedika’s passing accuracy has been 90.34 per cent throughout the competition.
Daniel Martins
