The Nigerians that signed for Chelsea last year.

Leo · Post by **Leo** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:39 pm

Just saw that all 4 of the Nigerians that signed for Chelsea last year has moved to the Norwegian topdivision club Lyn. Found a link but it's in Norwegian. Here is the link

leftee · Post by **leftee** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 3:42 pm

Na wa o. Saw Sinima Pongolle play for Liverpool yesterday; wonder what becomes of all the other Nigerian youngsters "allegedly" in the same age bracket(s).

Ziontrain · Post by **Ziontrain** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:00 pm

It just basically says that as of Nov 26th, it became clear that Lyn is now connected with these 4 players. More info to follow. It also lists their positions:
Ezekiel Bala - small quick forward
Chinedu Obasi "Edu" Ogbuke & Emmanuel Sarki - attacking midfielders
John Obi Mikel - midfielder who can play striker too

Its actually a good move for these guys in the sense that they have been bough for only ONE reason, to be polished and sold on.

Lyn is club that is wide open: they are the "little" team in the Capital city of Oslo and were 6th in the 14-team Norwegian Premier League. But they stuggled to score, and only two or three teams scored less than them.

So the table is set for these guys to come in and get a chance to do somethign soon, ven next year, although they are young.

Also by Norwegian law, the team MUST pay for them to be educated full time, while they are with the club, so if they are conciencous guys they can get something to fall back on.

But these guys could come in this league do well and get sold on, like Seyi. We of course critisize Seyi for "Settling" for Wolves, but in another sense we could also look at it as Norway gave Seyi a very good return for just 1 year investe there - Wolves would NOT have bought him or even scouted him direclty from Kwara United!

So in that sense these kids could polish up their resume here and move on. The team will not stand in their way (ALL norwegian teams wheel and deal) and almost all players in Norway get maximum 3 -year contracts, so the window to go will always be open. It wont be any JAG-type "Ukranian-mafia" situation!

I will browse the LYN forum to see if I can find out any any more....

Ziontrain · Post by **Ziontrain** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:39 pm

Ok, this article helped a bit:
http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2004/11/26/415787.html

The exec director of Lyn was saying that they have been signed and that club is getting school spots for them.

THAT is actually how this thing is working in terms of work permit: they are still of junior age and are going to be able to play football as of right.

I forgot about that obscure Norwegian rule:I think in fact any player who is a full time student (I think they also must be unde the age of 21) can - as of right - play football or any sport without any further work permit requirements, other than intl clearance of their player registration.

So that takes care of that.

They are also described here as being of a level where they can come in an play in the team right away, although it expect that only John Obi Mikel, will be a first team regular next season..

However, some peope on the Lyn forum are arguing that there is some rule where players cannot appear in the Norwegian premier league unless they are over 17. Dunno if its true though.....

(Side Note) there is more discussion there in that rticle about Sam Allardyce being on the hunt for Lyn's Omani keeper Al Al-Habisi. Apparrently Lyn is very willing to sell, but they want about US$1.5 MM. Meanwhile chepaskate Sam wants to pay about US$ 0.3MM - for a palyr who was the best keeper in the league last season! I guess they don't realize that they are lucky that Sam is offering any cash at all - he only just started paying transfer fees at all in the last year!!!

(Ezekiel Bala above)

Omoga · Post by **Omoga** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 4:55 pm

However, some peope on the Lyn forum are arguing that there is some rule where players cannot appear in the Norwegian premier league unless they are over 17. Dunno if its true though.....

It's true, Lyn wanted to play Mikel obie in the Norwegian cup final but NFF rejected them

GUEST · Post by **GUEST** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 5:02 pm

The 4 are member of the last U-17 TEAM.

BALA EZEKIEL AND JOHN MICHEL OBI of formerly Plateau United showed a

lot of Prospect in the Last U-17 Tournament.

Wishing them Luck.

Larry Ashagbe · Post by **Larry Ashagbe** » Mon Nov 29, 2004 9:13 pm

These players belong to Chelsea and are farmed out to Norway.

I have met them several times in London.

Ziontrain wrote:Ok, this article helped a bit:
http://www.dagbladet.no/sport/2004/11/26/415787.html

The exec director of Lyn was saying that they have been signed and that club is getting school spots for them.

THAT is actually how this thing is working in terms of work permit: they are still of junior age and are going to be able to play football as of right.

I forgot about that obscure Norwegian rule:I think in fact any player who is a full time student (I think they also must be unde the age of 21) can - as of right - play football or any sport without any further work permit requirements, other than intl clearance of their player registration.

So that takes care of that.

They are also described here as being of a level where they can come in an play in the team right away, although it expect that only John Obi Mikel, will be a first team regular next season..

However, some peope on the Lyn forum are arguing that there is some rule where players cannot appear in the Norwegian premier league unless they are over 17. Dunno if its true though.....

(Side Note) there is more discussion there in that rticle about Sam Allardyce being on the hunt for Lyn's Omani keeper Al Al-Habisi. Apparrently Lyn is very willing to sell, but they want about US$1.5 MM. Meanwhile chepaskate Sam wants to pay about US$ 0.3MM - for a palyr who was the best keeper in the league last season! I guess they don't realize that they are lucky that Sam is offering any cash at all - he only just started paying transfer fees at all in the last year!!!

(Ezekiel Bala above)

Gotti · Post by **Gotti** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 8:15 am

leftee wrote:Na wa o. Saw Sinima Pongolle play for Liverpool yesterday; wonder what becomes of all the other Nigerian youngsters "allegedly" in the same age bracket(s).

LEFTEE:
Pongolle played in the T&T 2001 U-17 championships...
While these four played in the Finland 2003 version.

Nevertheless, I suspect that they are probably unable to sign professional contracts principally because of the UEFA U-18 rule for non-EU citizens.

Hard Man · Post by **Hard Man** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:41 pm

Testing, bloody testing ...

Hard Man · Post by **Hard Man** » Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:46 pm

Thanks for setting that particular record straight, Gotti. The age issue is a sticking point in many throats, but we need to keep it real when folks go that route.

Great perspective on the Norwegian system, Ziontrain.

Sometimes you got to go back in order to move forward. Norway is a good school for these youngsters, and I think it will serve substantially the same purpose Belgium used to serve, a way-station for promising young Nigerians en route to the bigger European leagues.