Chile 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup gold medalist, Orji Okonkwo and fellow-Nigerian former youth international, Kingsley Michael have both left Bologna of Italy on loan to Italian lower division side, Reggina till the end of this season, megasportsarena.com reports.
Although Okwonkwo, who played for two seasons on loan to Montreal Impact of Canada in USA’s Major League Soccer (MLS), had initially been tipped to join AC Parma of Italy, the lad, who netted 10 goals in 50 appearances for the Canadian club he dumped in December, will seek better frontier at Reginna instead.
The Italian Serie B side have a strong Nigerian tradition that includes stints for Stephen Ayodele Makinwa, Victor Obinna Nsofor and Joel Chukwuma Obi, such that Okwonkwo and Michael should feel at home in Regio Emilio, where ex-Super Eagles’ captain, Sunday Ogorchukwu Oliseh’ former club, AC Reggiana are also based.
While Okwonkwo is back in Italy after his sojourn in North America, Michael played on loan at Cremonese last season, but he has this term failed to break into the first team at Bologna, and both lads will now team up to try and revive Reggina, who are currently battling against taking the drop to Serie C.
Okwonkwo and Michael will have to hit the ground running to help Reggina avoid relegation from Serie B, where they are currently placed 16th on the 20-team table with 19 points from 20 matches and just a point from safety.
