Sturm Graz comes away empty-handed
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TSG Hoffenheim has won the courtship for two Nigerian talents. Central defender Emmanuel Chukwu and striker Precious Benjamin are moving to the Bundesliga club, according to Gbenga Victor Agbejoye, the Managing Director of Grassrunners FC. The club boss confirmed to the Nigerian newspaper that the transfers of the two 18-year-olds had been completed.Sportsday“.
“This is indeed a wonderful way to start the new year and we at Grassrunners are really excited about it. We may have only been a football club in Nigeria for less than a year, but we are determined to change the dynamic of young talent transfers in this country. Nigeria is blessed with many young, gifted and talented footballers who deserve to get into the best teams in Europe and not be relegated to some obscure leagues. This is the only way Nigerian football can develop and improve if we place these young players in top European clubs,” emphasized Agbejoye.
Grassrunners FC is a newly founded club in the third-tier Nationwide League. The Munich-based consulting agency SPOCS Global Sports is investing in the club. Club boss Agbejoye will continue to serve as the company’s director responsible for Africa in a dual role. Last November, together with the club, the agency also organized a U19 tournament with 32 teams for scouts from European clubs – Hoffenheim, FC Brugge, Parma Calcio, Sturm Graz, LASK and Rapid Vienna were represented.
Chukwu and Benjamin already had trials with a handful of European teams last year. Chukwu was a guest at double winner Bayer Leverkusen and later in England, where his teammate Benjamin was examined at Nottingham Forest. Both were also together at Sturm Graz, the former club of Hoffenheim’s new sports director Andreas Schicker and coach Christian Ilzer. According to “Sportsday”, Chukwu and Benjamin were about to move to the Austrian Champions League participants before Hoffenheim intervened. Confirmation of the transfers from TSG is still pending.