The 17-year-old Nigerian winger Noah Okafor is close to making his professional debut for Swiss powerhouse FC Basel.

During the January transfer window, Basel announced with pride that the teenager has penned his first professional contract with the club and handed the number eleven jersey.

However, Okafor had failed to make the match day squad until this afternoon when manager Raphaël Wicky named him in the 18 for the Super League clash against Lausanne at St. Jakob Park but unfortunately he remained an unused substitute at the end of the contest.

He was Nigeria's standout performer in this season's UEFA Youth League before FC Basel were knocked out of the competition after scoring two goals and notching up four assists in six appearances.

Okafor has racked up 10 appearances for Basel's U21 team in the Swiss third -tier, and has netted 8 goals for the U18s in the Swiss U18 Elite League.

The talented teenager would be hoping to follow in the footsteps of two players of Nigerian descent, ex-Super Eagles goalkeeper Ike Shorunmu and Manuel Akanji, who both played for the first team of FC Basel before moving on to pastures new.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : twitter.com/noah_okafor