Renegade Teen Star Tries Out In Croatia

Teenage striker, Theophilus Solomon, has turned up at Croatian club HNK Rijeka, a couple of weeks after going AWOL(Absent Without Leave) at his Nigerian team, Eco Football Club of Lagos.

Solomon, born on January 18, 1996, has been tipped to be Nigeria's biggest football icon in no distant time and is being likened to Real Madrid of Spain and Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The strong and pacy forward joined Eco Football Club from Kick Soccer Academy, Kaduna on a five-year contract.

But in a dramatic twist a couple of weeks after he was invited to the camp of the national Under 17 team, the youngster feigned injury, only to turn up in Croatia where he is trying out with top division Rijeka.

Eco Football Club is an emergent Lagos team which has produced top national team players like Obiora Nwankwo, Raheem Lawal and Nurudeen Orelesi.

Vincent Alumona is the President of the club and he says of the Theophilus Solomon issue:

"I really don't know what to make of it because this was a boy we were grooming and he had also been given an opportunity to play for his national team.

"And then suddenly he disappeared and nobody knew where he was; not his beleaguered mother or his legal guardian.

"He told me he had a foot injury and was going to Abuja to see an aunt.

"It was just some days back that I got a call from an associate in Slovenia, who works for Croatian clubs, that our player, who we had been looking for for weeks was doing tests with a club there.

"It was really shocking but also a relief because now we know where he is and every body's mind will be at rest."