They appear to be a sliver lining in the search of a goalkeeper who can be the long term solution to some of the issues Nigeria have in that very important department.
It’s not so often that young Nigerian goalkeppers make breakthrough in teams in Europe. As a matter of fact young goalkeppers from Africa are very scarce in Europe.
For that reason, the recent promotion of 18 year old Nigerian goalkepper Mark Ugboh to the first team of Danish side Midtjylland can be seen as a big step towards solving the goalkeppers crisis in the Nigerian team.
Midtjylland confirmed yesterday that the shot stopper who was signed from their Nigerian partners FC Ebedei will now remain with the first team after impressing in pre season and also training.
Signed in January, he even sat on the bench in the Champions League qualifiers against AEK Larnaca and SL Benfica. A sign of how far he has grown since making the step up from the U19 of the team.
Aside the promotion to the first team, he has also inked a five year deal. His path to the starting lineup isn’t assured yet with the presence of two other senior goalkeppers. He is however seen as one with a bright future.
“Mark is now ready to take the next step in his development and become a permanent part of the first team. Mark completes our goalkeeping team, so that with Elias Olafsson, Jonas Lössl and him we have a good combination of talent and experience, says sporting director Svend Graversen”
“He is an exciting talent with a number of good facets in his game. At the same time, we are happy to be able to implement the first goalkeeper from FC Ebedei in FCM’s first team. We look forward to following his development over the next few years, where he will be matched at an even higher level every day”.
Mark has played seven matches for the U19 team, in which he has kept a clean sheet in five of the matches. Six of the matches have been won, while only one has been lost.
