Former Ajax star tells Gernot Rohr that 28-goal striker is ready for Super Eagles

The Super Eagles manager has a wide range of attacking options, but he has been urged to bring another in-form Nigerian attacker

Former Ajax Amsterdam winger Tijani Babangida has expressed the belief that Almeria forward Umar Sadiq is ready to make the step up to the Super Eagles.

The Nigerian senior national football team is currently blessed with several attacking options.

Head coach Gernot Rohr can call up Leicester City’s Kelechi Iheanacho, KRC Genk duo of Paul Onuachu and Cyriel Dessers, Crotone’s Simy Nwankwo, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen and Lorient’s Terem Moffi.

Still, Rohr extended a first-time invitation to Sadiq in March following his impressive exploits in Spain ahead of Nigeria’s two Afcon-qualifying clashes against the Benin Republic and Lesotho.

But due to club commitments, the former AS Roma striker opted out of the games.

Rohr again invited Sadiq for Nigeria’s double-header international friendly matches against Cameroon in early June.

Once again, the 24-year-old missed the encounters as Almeria were involved in La Liga promotion playoff matches about the same time.

Former international Babangida wants Rohr to give Sadiq another chance as the striker has enough quality to feature for the three-time African champions.

Umar Sadiq has come of age,” Babangida told Tribalfootball.

“He’s been doing well in his club even though it is Segunda in Spain.

“He scored great number of goals for his club. He has shown great potentials, and at the moment, if Sadiq gets his chance in the Super Eagles, I think he will be able to express himself more.

“I believe that very soon, he will grab the opportunity to show the coach and Nigerians how good and capable he is to wear the national team jersey of Nigeria.

“How good he can be depends on him because there is always room for improvement if a player keeps working hard.”

After scoring six league goals for Partizan Belgrade earlier in the season, Sadiq switched to the Segunda Division, where he found the back of the net 20 times in 38 matches.

Another two goals in three Copa del Rey matches brought Sadiq to a combined 28 goals in 56 matches.

This has made the former youth international the subject of interest from several European clubs, with Sevilla reportedly leading the race for his signature at the moment.