Listen to the article
Sky Bet Championship club Middlesbrough have stepped up their interest in Girondis Bordeaux striker Josh Maja, reports Completesports.com.
According to The Mirror, Boro manager Neil Warnock is a keen admirer of the Nigeria international and is determined to bring him to the Riverside this summer.
Warnock tried to sign him from Sunderland when he was boss at Cardiff in 2019.
Read Also:Done Deal: Ebuehi Joins Serie A Club Venezia On Loan
Instead the young forward opted for a move to Ligue 1 club Bordeaux where he struggled to hold down regular playing berth.
Maja has scored nine times in 45 appearances for Bordeaux.
He spent the second half of last season on loan at Premier League strugglers Fulham, who have since turned down the option to buy the forward for £9million.
8 Comments
This is a very big insult to Nigerians. How can sunderland , a serial relegation fighter be hunting for Maja a future talent for SE when other players from other small African countries are been sort after by big top five Europe’s league teams. Seems something is wrong somewhere about the perception of Nigerian players by big teams in Europe or could it a be a curse?. Imagine up till now now big club has come for Wilfrid Ndidi despite been rated the best Defensive midfielder in Europe top five leagues for two seasons now. Look at Onuachu, Terem Murphy and Sadiq Umar and even Nwakwo Simmy.All we hear about them is hear say no concrete offer. Meanwhile other African countries are moving . E. G Parson daka to Leicester s. Honestly, I believe the white abhor something negative about nigeria players
Gbam! You don talk am finish. Josh Maja should be going to Manchester City and not Sunderland. Even Liverpool or Chelsea by now should be going for his signature. Well said Brodaman.
Hehehehe…so it is no longer a case of whites hate blacks anymore, it has now become whites hate Nigerians…LMAOoo. That exactly is the reason we keep making same mistakes and failing again and again. When we are too quick to pull the race card, we lose sight of the real realities on ground. Is it Barcelona you want to hear chasing Maja now or Juventus…? Sometimes we need to tone down the sentiments. Nationality doesn’t play football or determine transfer decisions
@ Dr Drey
You also have a point
This isn’t about playing the race card. Yet again , it’s also an issue that should be taken deeply . Looking at how things are, it seems something isn’t right . Is it the agents fault or a deliberate acts by European clubs not to look at these players .
I remember when Drogba came yo Chelsea , he was bought for around £15m compared to schevchenko and crespo who were termed top players . These two top players left but Drogba who was bought that low became Chelsea’s top man . Even when Fernando Torres was bought at a record price of £50m , he still couldn’t deliver as much as Drogba. At times I wonder whether Chelsea back then we’re trying to look for players that could remove Drogba in which they failed to do so because Drogba himself was aware of the politics and had to rise up to the of showing that he’s the better player .
Today when one talks about Chelsea , the name Drogba came in.
I believe it’s all about what I mentioned.
Advice to these players is to never give up . And still work hard to aim higher .
@Olusegun, you are wrong as with the case of Drogba, he was bought at the rate of £24million, in 2004, which is the club record transfer as at then, and making him the most expensive African signing, I guess Drogba was white then abi, Chelsea also makes Essien their another record signing, Quincy Fortune is a South African, but he was one of Man United top signing in his time,.
Man United and Chelsea fought for almost a season for a certain teenager name Mikel in 2006, these people are not stupid, they go for players with talents and market value not just any overhyped or over rated players, because they are doing business
The earlier we agree that most of our players are average or below average players the better for us.
Where do you expect a player that can’t hold down a starting berth in boadexus neither was able to score more than 3 goals or so in relegated Fulham to play for? Real Madrid abi Barca? Common, our boys are not just there yet!
Glad we’re noticing this . How can a player like simy who scored up to 20gosls be chaeedby another division 2 club whereas he’s supposed to be going higher or ohnanchu who is Belgium’s highest goal scorers be chased by westham and Brighton? Honestly this is crap. Inspite their working hard and they are been chased by low clubs . This is terrible .
@Gowetok, you surely hit the point where it needed to be hit . It’s worrisome to note that something like this is happening
Its all about value proposition. No body is conspiring against anybody.
The same whites bought Salah for 42m, bought Mane for 42m, bought Partey for 50m, bought Mahrez for 68m and bought our own Osimhen for almost 80m. The simple fact is that if your talent is world class, world class teams will come for you. There’s no team that will see an extremely talented multi dimensional player and wouldnt go for him. But when you are the uni-directional wait and get type, then only teams that need wait nd get strikers will come for you.
A player like Ndidi is still a LCFC player today despite being an excellent tackler because he is lacking in other aspects required of a defensive midfielder. What he can do with the ball at his feet is still highly limited, the power and accuracy of his shots are still lacking compared to others like Gueye, Casemiro, Busqests, Fernandinho, Kroos, Kante, Jorginho and the rest. Let any of these players have a clear sight at goal from outside the penalty area and 4 out of 5 times they will hit it on target. A player like Gueye has even added scoring freekicks to his game. Can we say same of Ndidi…? In today’s football everybody including the goalkeeper must be able to initiate attacks…that’s what modern football demands. If you dont have all the embodiment of what modern football desires, be you a goalkeeper, defender, midfielder or striker, Im sorry you wont attract the top teams in the game.
So once again, Its all about your value proposition….nobody gives a damn about your nationality.
Truth be told many of our Nigerian players were over rated by the local media. The only three players that possesses all the ingredients of a world class talents are chukwueze, ndidi and osimehen. Even ndidi and chukwueze have their own limitations. Chukwueze by now with all his qualities should be getting a double digit in assists and goals. Ndidi with all great tackling skills is still lacking passing accuracy. The only player who tick all the box as a modern day striker is osimhen and no wander Juventus and Tottenham are all gunning for his signature even though he only scored ten goals last season.