Former Chelsea of England youth team defender, Jordan Aina has become the latest Nigerian lads to stir up memories of the club’s strong tradition with players from his father’s country, as he is currently on trial at Craven Cottage, megasportsarena.com reports.
The Cottagers’ Nigerian tradition includes days of yore with Dickson Paul Etuhu as well as of recent with Omatsone ‘Sone’ Aluko and Ola Aina, whose younger brother, Jordan, is now one of three players currently seeking new lease of life the club this season.
Incidentally, Fulham had also initially been in the running to snatch Eberechi Eze from Queens Park Rangers, before he eventually joined Crystal Palace last week, but the English Premier League side have now turned their attention fully on two Nigerian-born rookies and Aina, who appears on course to seal a transfer to the London-based club this weekend.
Jordan Aina has stepped up his efforts to seal a deal at Craven Cottage, as he came through with flying colours in a test match for the club’s under-23 squad’s second pre-season friendly, with rave reviews trailing his efforts, though he could not save them from losing the game 2-0 against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The younger Aina was named to The Cottagers’ starting line-up for the second consecutive pre-season game; having earlier helped the team to a 5-0 mauling of Reading last Saturday, as the youngster seeks to get a new club, after coming to the end of his contract with Chelsea, where he spent close to a decade with the team he joined before his ninth birthday.
Aina appears to have favourable chances in his ambitions at Fulham, as the club’s under-23 side are currently handled by a Nigerian coach, Colin Omogbehin, who worked with former Super Eagles’ winger, Victor Moses at Crystal Palace, which are another London-based EPL outfit.
Aina’s hope of settling down fast at Craven Cottage appeared to get a boost when Fulham came out with information that another Nigerian-born youngster, Michael Olakigbe has accepted to put pen on a scholarship deal with the club.
The club’s under-16 and under-17 teams’ coach, Dan Thomas said he was happy that Olakigbe will play for him this season, as he noted some rare qualities possessed by the product of East Soccer Base Academy, who has been compared with Leicester City winger, Demarai Gray and is one of seven players that have been promoted through Fulham’s youth sector this summer.
Thomas said: “Michael’s a very direct right-winger who loves to dribble and take players on. He’s a real hard worker with pace and is your classic winger. He joined us at Under-14s from QP.
“We paid some compensation to QPR to bring him to Fulham. He managed to play up in the Under-18s a couple of times last season and scored a couple of goals. He’s already shown he’s capable of playing at this level.”
Fulham also announced that 18 -year-old winger, Sylvester Jasper has committed himself for yet another season with the team he scored nine goals and provided ten assists for last season in the U18 Premier League South.
After helping The Cottagers win the title while getting his senior breakthrough last season, in which he also featured during the FA Youth Cup, Premier League 2 and EFL Trophy, Jasper has now been rewarded with a new deal that will run until the summer of 2023.
The youngster, who made his senior debut against Manchester City in the English FA Cup this year January, before featuring in two Championship matches against Brentford and Birmingham City, was born in London and is already an England youth international, but he is still eligible to play for his father’s country, Nigeria, and Bulgaria, where his mother hails from.
The fast-rising lad admitted he was excited to seal a new deal with the club, and enthused that he will be able to step up his efforts this season even as he eyes more relevance with the main team, whose players he disclosed that he admires a lot for successfully gaining promotion back to the EPL at the end of last season in the English Championship.
Jasper said: “I’m delighted to have signed a new contract with this great Club, especially after a great season for myself personally. The Club winning promotion to the Premier League makes it even more special. My main focus now is to work hard and help the team any way I can to have a good season in the Prem.”
