Anderlecht, Atletico Madrid Pull Out Of Deal To Sign Nigeria U17 Captain

Published: November 26, 2019

Allnigeriasoccer.com understands that Belgian First Division A team Anderlecht have pulled the plug on signing Nigeria U17 international Samson Tijani.

Anderlecht were supposed to travel to Nigeria for talks with Collins Edwin Sports Club but they have reservations about the multiple agents associated with the central midfielder.

Although Tim Aleshe is the bona fide representative of Tijani, Collins Edwin Sports Club gave mandates to several agents, adopting the style of non-exclusivity.

For example, former top scorer in the Belgian topflight, Tosin Dosunmu and a Turkish intermediary had a mandate to negotiate with Belgian clubs, while Paul Ojo had a mandate for Denmark, Russia, Portugal and Spain.

The owner of Jossy United Football club has parental consent from Tijani's father and gave another mandate to Klay Ekeocha, well known as Kelechi Nwakali and Kenneth Omeruo's former agent.

In addition, Aleshe subcontracted his representation to several agents and this led to Anderlecht choosing not to pursue a deal for Tijani as they didn't know how to resolve the impasse and who to deal with.

Spanish La Liga side Atlético de Madrid are also no longer interested in the Golden Eaglets captain.

Initially, Los Rojiblancos contemplated inviting him to attend trials after he scored a brace in the Nigeria U17s opening match of the World Cup but he did not sustain the tempo in the last two games against Australia and Netherlands.

Atlético de Madrid are understood to be searching for a long-term replacement for Thomas Partey and Tijani plays the same position as the Ghana star.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : fifa.com