Partizan Belgrade of Serbia striker, Sadiq Umar has sensationally entered the summer transfer radar of AS Monaco of France, despite earlier interest from their French Ligue 1 rivals, Lille Metropole, while Aide Brown Ideye has opted to move on from Aris Thessaloniki of Greece, megasportsarena.com reports.
While Ideye, who once played for Sochaux of France before moving on to several other clubs in Europe and Asia, is yet to disclose his next port of call, after deciding against extending his last contract at Aris, Umar had all along been touted to replace Victor Osimhen at Lille, but will now have to weigh the option of moving to Monaco instead.
Monaco have a strong Nigerian history, dating back to the early days of Victor Ikpeba, as well as Lukman Haruna, Sani Keita, Elderson Uwa Echiejile and Henry Onyekuru, while Lille flaunt Peter Osaze Odemwingie, Vincent Enyeama and Osimhen, such that arriving at a choice between both top Ligue 1 clubs will not be an easy task for Umar.
Conversely, Ideye appears with a less strenuous dilemma, after opting to leave Thessaloniki, as the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner, who has also played for Neuchâtel Xamax of Switzerland, Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, West Bromwich Albion of England Dynamo Kiev, Malaga of Spain Dynamo Kiev, Tianjin Teda of China and Olympiakos of Greece is not in any hurry for a new club.
The 31-year-old Canada 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup revelation, who joined Aris in July 2019 and went on to make 31 appearances for the club in all competitions, came to the end of his contract with The Yellow-Blacks on June 30 and opted not to extend his stay, despite the club offering him an extension until end of the season.
He appeared disenchanted about staying on, after his last two appearances ended in a 4-3 loss on aggregate in the Greek Cup semi-finals and a 2-0 defeat by PAOK Saloniki last weekend in the Super League; as the club struggled despite him hitting 10 goals overall.
A different story is playing out for Umar in Serbia, where he has found a cordial atmosphere, compared to his struggles at AS Roma of Italy and on loan at Glasgow Rangers of Scotland last season, as his rain of goals this term have now attracted Lille and Monaco.
The former Spezia of Italy striker, who has also attracted interest from teams in Germany, Spain, Italy, Turkey and Russia, scored 17 goals as well as same number of assists this season in action with Partizan and, he still has two and a half years left on his contract, the Rio 2016 Olympics bronze medalist could be on his way out of Belgrade this summer.
This is sequel to report by Sportski Zurnal that Monaco are ready to pay €8m plus bonuses worth €2m to lure him from Partizan Belgrade; and though the total €10m valuation is substantially below the Serbian club’s preferred €15m asking price for the leggy striker, Umar could be on his to the Principality of France this month.
That, though, will depend largely on Monaco’s bargaining power and the preferences of Umar’s agents, as Partizan’s managing director sport, Vazura said: “For us, the transition period, as far as departures are concerned, is over. Unless Sadiq leaves; and he cannot go below €15m.”
