Top division Belgium side Gent have completed the signing of Nigeria U17 star striker Abubakar Abdullahi as a potential replacement for Gift Orban who has joined French Ligue 1 side Olympique Lyon, OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
Abubakar scored a brace against Burkina Faso to hand Nigeria the WAFU B trophy which sealed their spot at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations, he didn’t however match his feat at the tournament with Nigeria crashing out in the quarter finals.
However he did enough to convince the technical setup of Gent to hand him a chance to train with the youth team and he excelled leading to the decision to hand him a five year deal. His signing is coming hot on the heels of the departure of another Nigerian in Orban to Lyon.
Orban was the surprise star of the team last season after scoring 22 goals in 22 games following his move in the January transfer window from second division Norwegian side Stabaek.
“Abu has joined Gent and the hope is that he will be another Orban. He has already played in a game for the youth team. They showed they wanted him the most ahead of FC Porto who were keen on signing him and even had him in training”, a source close to the player told OwnGoalNigeria.com.
Built with a much better physical attribute than Orban, Abu will be hoping to not just follow in the footsteps of Orban but also that of Moses Simon, the Super Eagles vice captain who played a role in convincing the youngster to join the team he led to their first ever league title in 2015.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
