Ahead of the much anticipated friendly between the Super Eagles of Nigeria and heavyweights Brazil this month, Afrofooty takes a brief look at the profile of the latest dual nationality player invited to the national team.
The news that France-based winger Samuel Kalu would miss the friendly on health grounds was swiftly followed by the announcement of a rather curious replacement in the way of Bulgaria-based England born Viv Solomen-Otabor.
At closer look, the London-born winger’s CV does not jump out as been overly impressive.
This is what is known about the 23 year old to date:
– Background: when the likes of Musa, Omeruo and Azeez were playing at the World Cup in 2014, Solomon Viv was still playing conference football (lowest level of football in England).
Admittedly, he was a teenager at the time.
– Exposure: Solomon hasn’t played in the English Premier League before. In fact most of his playing career have been in England’s division 3 and 4 levels before moving to Bulgaria (which can hardly be described as a competitive league).
– Goals-to-Games ratio: considering the leagues he has played his football, Solomon’s goal to games ratio flatters to deceive. 5 goals in 44 games for Blackpool ; 1 goal in 12 games for Oxford City ; 1 goal thus far in Bulgaria. In fact 8 goals and 7 assists in 100 plus matches in his entire professional career scarcely qualifies to be called prolific.
Does these all point to the fact that Solomon will flop in Nigeria colours if given the opportunity? Not necessarily.
International exposure might just be what his career needs to take him to the next level.
Commenting on an internet platform, a Super Eagles fan said: "On current form there are many who are more deserving: Ejuke of Heerenveen, Dessers of Heracles in Netherlands, Okonkwo of Montreal Impact, Ebere Eze and Bright Osayi-Samuels of QPR, Samuel Adegbenro of Rosenberg, Umar Sadiq of Partizan Belgrade, Tony Nwakaeme of Trabzonspor all have far better stats this week, month, season than Viv.
However, I wish him the best and hope it works out for both Viv and the Super Eagles"