Haugesund Regret Not Signing Sunday Mba

Published: February 14, 2013

Haugesund have regretted their decision not to sign Nigerian offensive player Sunday Mba some years back. The Warri Wolves star tested with the Norwegian club in November 2007.

Mba, then a teenager, trained with FKH, and despite scoring a hat-trick in the 8-2 win over Kopervik, he was not offered a contract.

Nils Halvor Berge, who was the sporting administrative manager of Haugesund, labelled Mba and the other Nigerian trialists bad players.

''We want something extraordinary, but the only thing that has been extraordinary with sample players, is how bad they've been,'' Berge told h-avis.no in 2007.

In a recent interview with Norwegian newspaper VG Nett, Nils Halvor Berge has regretted those statements credited to him.

''I see that the Haugesund Avis writes it and I can not remember having said so. If I've said it, was the flippant comment I never should have come with. If true then it is a stupid statement.

''The assessments were made then was that no one could excel except Mba. It is obvious that we failed to see the potential that lay in the boy at the time,'' says Berge to vg.no.

Obinma Allen, Obinna Okafor, Timothy Anjembe and Kabiru Alausa had traveled with Mba to Norway but they all went home empty-handed without signing contracts. Norwegian - Nigerian agent Atta Aneke facilitated the trials for the five players.

Photo Credit: National Mirror