The race for the future of Nigeria U20 defender Benjamin Fredrick is gathering pace with all interested teams battling to reach an agreement to sign him before the start of pre season training.
Frederick is presently at the U20 World Cup with the Nigerian team and was on for the entire duration of yesterday’s 2-1 win over Dominican Republic. He followed up his performance at the Africa Cup of Nations with another flawless one despite conceding the penalty that lead to the goal scorer by Dominican Republic.
OwngoalNigeria.com exclusively gathered that his performance at the AFCON, which saw a host of clubs showing interest in signing him appears to have been narrowed to just two teams in Swiss side FC Basle and German Bundesliga side RB Leipzig.
As called by transfer guru Fabrizio Romano both teams are in a list of six teams who have showed strong intention in signing the defender, they include Danish league duo of Midtylland and Brondy, Malmo of Sweden, LaLiga side Real Sociedad as well as Villarreal from the same league.
However, the team that is pushing the most to get a deal done is FC Basle. Their representatives have already held preliminary talks with the player’s camp and are expecting a deal to be done when he turns 18.
Managed by world respected football agency CAA Base, RB Leipzig have also made their intention of signing him known but haven’t shown the same desire like FC Basle.
When OwngoalNigeria.com contacted the president of Simoiben Football Academy Mrs Sarah Moses Simon, she said she isn’t in a position to speak about the player’s next destination yet.
” We have offers but I am not sure this is the right time to speak about it. You can ask his agency about it. Our role is to guide him on which path is best for his development”, she said.
Daniel Martins