| Umar Sadiq |
The name Umar Sadiq doesn't really ring a bell in the ear of Nigerian football fans when it comes to national team football, but back with his club in Spain Umar is considered as a club hero who helped the Andalusia based club achieve their goal after a long while.
Born in Kaduna, Sadiq started playing football on the streets of his hometown at an early age.
He later played for local team Kusa Boys, before joining the future of Africa football academy and finally the football college Abuja.
In June 2013, he travelled with Football College Abuja to Croatia and participated at the Kvarnerska Rivijera youth tournament, where he finished as the competition top goal scorer and helped his team become champions.
As a result of his promising performance in Croatia, this would shoot his football career to the next level, as he got signed by Spezia, but failed to make an appearance for the senior side.
Instead he was sent on loan spells to several clubs in Europe such as Lavagnese in 2013, Roma in 2015, Bologna in 2016, Torino in 2017 e.tc.
He decided to settle down permanently with Spanish segunda division side UD Almeria on a five year contract in the summer of 2020.
In his first season with the Rojiblancos, Umar hit double figures as he got involved in 27 goals after making 38 appearance for the club, which saw them finish fourth and reached the quaterfinals of the Copa del Rey.
The Spanish club were disappointed that they had to spend another season in the La Liga 2, ever since they got relegated in the 2014/15 season. But unknown to Coach Rubi, he didn't know they had someone within their ranks which will make their promotion dream a reality.
The Breakthrough Season for Umar:
The 2021/22 season will indeed be a remarkable one for the Kaduna born forward, as he started the season brightly for the Rojiblancos scoring a goal in their first game of the season, away at FC Cartagena which helped them to a 3:1 win.As the season progressed Umar built on the confidence from last season, and in his first 20 games of the new season he was involved in 15 goals for his side, scoring eight and assisting seven(7) in the process.
This his stellar performance for the Spanish side will see him win the award for the La Liga 2 player of the month in February, as he scored (5) goal and assisted two to Nick the award. It also helped him earn a call up to the super eagles squad for the AFCON 2020.
Umar's Goal Poaching Successes for Club's promotion
Sadiq Umar overtime had metamorphorsed into a ferocious goal poacher for Coach Rubi and showed why his name wouldn't be forgotten so quick by the Almeria fans, as he scored the decisive goal in a 2-2 away at CD Leganes on Sunday to secure their promotion back to the La Liga Santander.However it wouldn't be wrong to say that the Nigerian international had a role to play in the clubs promotion to top flight, as he scored 18 goals, and assisted 9 times in 36 matches for the Estadio de Los Juegos side.
This record was indeed commended by the organizers of the Spanish top flight on their social media platform, and this has also put his name on the lips of every UD Almeria fans, who wouldn't be too quick to forget the man who helped their club achieve their dream.