Super Eagles Striker Umar Sadiq has joined Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad from Almeria on transfer deadline day.
The transfer fee is undisclosed but sources close to the negotiations say the deal is worth an initial 20 million euros plus six million euros in potential add ons.
The 25-year-old who is expected to replace Alexander Isak in Sociedad’s attack following the Swede’s record move to Premier league side Newcastle United has two goals from three games to his name this season.
Sadiq joined UD Almeria in the Segunda division on October 5, 2020 for nine million euros from Partizan Belgrade and helped them gain promotion last season, scoring 18 goals and providing 12 assists in 36 league games.
Overall, he recorded 43 goals and 19 assists in 84 games across all competitions for Almeria.
While playing for Partizan in the Super Liga Srbije, he scored 23 goals and provided 19 assists in 52 games. He joined them initially on loan on July 2, 2019 from Italian Serie A side, A.S Roma before making the move permanent on January 30, 2020 for two million Euros.
Sadiq started his career with Abuja college before moving to Spezia youth in 2013 and then graduating to their u19 side a year later.
His performances for Spezia caught the eyes of Roma scouts which led to a loan move to Rome in 2015 before a permanent transfer in 2016.
Sadiq also had several loan spells at Serie A sides Bologna and Torino, NAC Breda in the Dutch Eredivisie, Scottish giants, Rangers as well as Perugia in the Italian Serie B.
At international level, Sadiq played for Nigeria’s under 23 national team at the Rio 2016 Olympics, helping the country clinch bronze before stepping up to the Super Eagles at the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January, scoring against Guinea-Bissau in the last group stage game.
