Transfer: Super Eagles left back ditches NPFL for Danish side Sønderjyske Fodbold

Super Eagles left-back, Chidiebube Gideon Duru is set to join Danish top-flight side, Sønderjyske Fodbold, after his seven-year stint in the Nigeria Professional Football League, Soccernet.ng reports.

The 24-year-old wide defender spent the NPFL 2023/2024 season as a free agent but was pictured on loan with Sønderjyske Fodbold, representing them in a friendly game against FC Midtjylland last month.

Duru scored an own goal in that game, but Sønderjyske’s coach, Thomas Nørgaard, indicated some rustiness needed to be knocked off by the full-back.

“There is no doubt that when you shuffle the cards, some relationships are missing, and I take it completely on my shoulders that they are not sitting where they should be. It leaves us in some situations, and we make, for example, Duru’s own goal that only happens one in 100 times. Basically, that’s how it is at this time, and even though his break hasn’t been that long, he has to get right back into the rhythm of the game, but I think he played well,” the 42-year-old Danish manager said in quotes revealed by Bold Dk.

Duru joined Rivers United in 2021 after a four-year stint with Lobi Stars and was a key player for the club as they lifted the NPFL title in the 2021/2022 season.

The left-back is best known for his ability to combine his defending prowess with the ability to score goals from dead balls. In 134 NPFL games, he scored eight times and recorded 14 assists.

He joins Sønderjyske Fodbold, who were promoted to the Danish top flight last season after a year without a club. Duru represented Nigeria in the 2018 Friendly against Atletico Madrid.