With slow but steady improvements in his club football career in the Spanish La Liga 2, former Under-17 Nigeria International Kelechi Nwakali now has his sights set on potentially playing in the Spanish La Liga next season and also earning an invitation to the Super Eagles.
"I’m excited to be playing competitive football again. I have waited so long for this moment and I’m fully committed to helping the club achieve promotion,” Nwakali told Aoifootball.com.
If his club does gain promotion to the Spanish top flight with Nwakali featuring at the highest level, it would be a remarkable turnaround for a player moving from club to club with minimal impacts in the past 3 years.
Having already featured for the Super Eagles against Atletico Madrid in 2018 with a fantastic long range goal to his name, Nwakali will be hoping to claim a spot in Nigeria's attacking midfield position - a slot currently firmly held by Everton's Alex Iwobi.
"Nwakali is a kind of player that can see beyond what other players are seeing, a player that has a vision and a player who can play a ball that can result in a goal." Expressed coach Emmanuel Amuneke (who managed the attacking midfielder in U-17 football) recently.
However, for those promises to be realised, Nwakali will need a lot of games under his belt at top flight football. Having played 2 games out of 4 in the Spanish La Liga 2 after the resumption of football, it is way too early to consider him as a credible threat to Iwobi's starting position in the Super Eagles.
Iwobi is an established International and a highly experienced club footballer at the highest level in arguably the best league in the world.
However, should Huesca gain promotion to the La Liga and Nwakali goes on to feature regularly for them next season, then this time next year, it will be interesting to see how far Nwakali would have come to mount a credible challenge to Iwobi.
For now, he should concentrate on regaining the form that made many fans believe that he would go on to do great things. Making the bench and featuring for Huesca in their ambitions to gain promotion to the La Liga is a good start.