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Super Eagles’ striker at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Simeon Tochukwu Nwankwo (Simy) has gained a huge opportunity to revive his career in a loan deal at AC Parma of Italy, megasportsarena.com reports.
Though the deal will see him line out in the Italian lower division, Serie B for the remaining part of the season, it s sure to be a welcome change to the struggles he has faced in the Serie A with Salernitana.
He now takes after Stephen Ayodele Makinwa, Harmony Ikande, Nnamdi Oduamadi and Joel Chukwuma Obi as the next Nigerian to star for Parma.
This comes after Parma officially announced their deadline day signing of the lanky forward on loan until the end of the season.
While Simy enjoyed a prolific 2020/2021 season playing for Corotone, where he scored 20 goals, he has only one in a poor season for struggling Salernitana.
He, however, knows the second flight of Italian football very well and is ranked as Crotone’s all-time top scorer – with 66 goals in 159 appearances across Serie A, Serie B and Coppa Italia.
His prolific streak in Serie B encouraged Parma to have him lead the line in the second half of this season, and he is in contention to make his debut against Benevento on Saturday.
Heading into that game, The Crusaders stated that they are glad to get Simy on a six-month loan deal with an option to buy.
This is despite the fact that the 29-year-old leggy striker, who moved to Salernitana at the beginning of the current campaign, scored just one goal in 19 league appearances for The Garnets.
However, with Parma languishing in the bottom half of the Serie B table, their addition of the tall striker, who started his career abroad in Portugal, could help them salvage the season.
The lanky lad, who was born in Onitsha, started his professional career in Portugal with Portimonense in 2011 and he had another stint at Gil Vicente before leaving the country for Crotone in 2016.
He joined Salernitana following Crotone’s relegation from Serie A last season but his aspirations did not go as planned, as they currently sit at the bottom of the top-flight table with 10 points after 22 games.
He is not new to Serie B having won the top scorer award during his stint at Crotone in 2019-20 with 20 goals in 37 outings.
That is one reason why his move to Stadio Ennio Tardini will be expected to boost Giuseppe Iachini’s squad, as they continue their push to return to the Italian top-flight.
This past Sunday, Parma settled for a 1-1 draw with Crotone and they are placed 12th in Serie B table with 24 points after 20 matches – eight points behind the play-offs zone, hence their glee with the arrival of Simy on Monday.
The club added: “Parma Calcio 1913 are delighted to announce that Simeon Tochukwu ‘Simy’ Nwankwo has joined the Club on loan from US Salernitana with an option to buy.”
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