ANDREW EKEJIUBA
Championship club, Stoke City, has finally confirmed the signing of former Nigeria U17 invitee, Ifeanyi Udanoh, thereby beating Tottenham Hotspur to the signature of the central defender, who has been likened to Liverpool star, Virgil van Dijk.
Stoke City confirmed on Friday that the dual-eligible Udanoh is among the twelve players who have put pen to paper to become first-year scholars at the club.
On Udanoh, Stoke City wrote: “Centre back from London/Nigeria came to the Club on a trial in January before he unfortunately sustained an injury just after.
“Still getting back to full fitness following lock down but he is an aggressive centre back who likes physical challenges.”
However, Stoke City are mindful of the fact that Udanoh has just recovered from injury and he will be rested for their first three games in the U18 Premier League in the 2020-2021 campaign.
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager, Jurgen Klopp, is running the rule over 2013 U17 World Cup-winning striker, Taiwo Awoniyi, ahead of the start of the new season.
1stnewsonline.com gathered that the Nigeria U23 international trained with first team stars such as Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk during Thursday’s workout at Melwood.
Awoniyi was assigned a provisional squad number, 47 for the training session, a number allocated to Nathaniel Phillips for the 2019-2020 campaign.
It is confirmed that Klopp will not be able to count on the services of Awoniyi for the visit of Premier League new boys, Leeds United to Anfield on Saturday evening.
The Nigerian remains ineligible to feature for Liverpool in the English top-flight as he has yet to overcome the work permit obstacle.
Since his celebrated move to Liverpool in the summer of 2015, Awoniyi has spent time on loan at FSV Frankfurt, NEC, Royal Excel Mouscron, KAA Gent and Mainz 05.