Nigeria international defender Adekunle Adeleke has sparked a tug of ownership between Abia Warriors and Enyimba ahead of the start of a new season in Nigeria.
The defender has been a part of the main team of the senior national team of Nigeria for the last four competitive but he is yet to get his debut. He joined Enyimba last month where he is expected to be a part of their squad for the CAF Confederation Cup.
However in a remarkable twist of event, Abia Warriors via a press release are claiming that the defender is still their player as he has a valid contract which will run till the year 2023.
“Adeleke is still a bonafide player who has a subsisting contract up to 2023” the club media officer Nwosu Chigozie stated.
“We regard the news as untrue because no official communication was opened with regards to his transfer to any club. Abia warriors warn clubs to remain professional always.
Reacting to the claims of Abia Warriors, the technical director of Enyimba Jude Anyafudu said they have a very good relationship with Abia Warriors and won’t put it in jeopardy because of a player.
” First of all we have a very good relationship with Abia Warriors. They are our sister club and we have signed three players from them the past one month. We won’t compromise our relationship with them. It’s cordial and professional”, he told OwnGoalNigeria.com
” Speaking further, Adeleke’s agent Victor Agali showed us verified documents as proof that he only signed a year deal with Abia Warriors from AS Racine. You can call Emmanuel Ibru or Agali to confirm. We signed Adeleke and even registered him for our CAF Confederation Cup campaign on the basis of the document. We did nothing wrong”, he concluded.
Per the confidential document made available to our editorial team, Adeleke agreed a one year deal which will run all through last season and he will return to AS Racine upon it’s expiration.
