Sadiq Umar: Real Sociedad coach promises to give Super Eagles striker more minutes ahead of Laliga kickoff

Umar joined Real Sociedad last summer, but his season was halted by a knee injury

Real Sociedad coach Imanol Alguacil has stated that Super Eagles striker Sadiq Umar will have a more important role at the club this season, Soccernet reports.

Umar joined Real Sociedad from Almeria last summer for a club-record €20million. He had two outstanding seasons at Almeria, scoring 43 goals and 19 assists in 84 appearances in the Laliga 2.

Umar arrived with a big reputation and was expected to do magic with the Txuri-Urdinak. After scoring on his debut against Atletico Madrid, he looked set for big things.

Unfortunately for him, he sustained a nasty cruciate ligament rupture in his third game against Getafe, which ruled him out of action for the remainder of the campaign. The 26-year-old attacker missed 44 games last season and only returned to full training this summer.

Umar showed glimpses of what he can offer in training and featured for Real Sociedad in two of their pre-season games. However, he did not travel with the team for their USA tour.

Nonetheless, coach Alguacil has stated that Umar is an important member of the squad and will get more minutes this season.

“I expect to see the best version of Sadiq. It's a shame he could not go on the USA tour because I would have liked him to have had more minutes as he was having a very good preseason,” Alguacil said per Mundo Deportivo.

“He's going to get more playing time for sure. Just because he didn't go on tour doesn't mean that I'm not going to start playing him.”

Real Sociedad begun their Laliga campaign with a game against Girona at the Reale Arena on Saturday, and Umar is a part of the squad for the game. He could start for Txuri-Urdinak.