* Feared he might get
missing in Spain
* Plus the clip that won
over Luis Enrique
A week ago, precisely on Wednesday morning, a young footballer was having pre-match meetings at Enyimba ahead of the Abia derby against Abia Warriors later in the day. Fast forward, Wednesday morning this week, he finds himself training with Barcelona at Camp Nou, not on trials but as a Barca player…Can someone wake this kid up? He must be dreaming…
This is the story of Ezekiel Bassey, Enyimba’s pacy winger who signed for Barcelona on transfer deadline Tuesday. In what is easily the biggest transfer involving an NPFL player to Europe, Bassey passed his medical at Camp Nou on Tuesday and the next morning he was training with Barca team B. That is the climax of this fairy-tale story of a boy that evolved from the streets of Uyo through Aba and now Catalonia.
The smoothness of the deal’s execution has now become a reference point in the NPFL. The fact that the boy did not go on trials at Barca has equally left many amazed. It is rare for Barcelona to sign a player from Africa without having him pass through the rigours of trials. But the Catalan giants had been tracking Bassey for two years. Within this period, he was in Nigeria’s CHAN squad in 2016 and the NPFL All Stars team to Spain same year.
But the boy’s video clip that convinced Barcelona manager, Luis Enrique, to sign him was the Enyimba/Sunshine game in Aba in 2015. Bassey picked up the ball from Enyimba’s half, dribbled every opposition on the way and scored. Enyimba won 3-0. Enrique had seen enough and didn’t need to have him come over on trials.
Based on the numerous positive scouting reports on the lad nicknamed Hazard, Barca resolved to sign him on but the question was, when? Initially, they wanted to delay the deal till summer but, suspecting a possible hijack, they settled for the winter window. So, the deal was primed to go down the wire on deadline day. The club put a call across to the boy’s reps on Wednesday, January 24, the same day Enyimba was playing against Abia Warriors. In order not to unsettle him, the details of the call and the offer were not revealed to the boy till after the game.
Then came the moment. He was told that an European club had made an offer for him. The boy wasn’t taken aback because he had always exuded confidence. He so much believed in his abilities. He revealed to the rep that he was not surprised that an offer had come in for him, then he sought to know the club…that was when he experienced the shock of his life. The identity of the club was revealed and the soft copy of the offer forwarded to his phone. Check out Bassey’s reply…this writer was privileged to see the text…”my Oga (boss), I respect you so much. Otherwise, I will say you are lying. Though this letter is in Spanish I believe you…”
The next day, he was in Abuja. All the transfer documents were sorted out in FCT. All the ‘T’s crossed and ‘I’s dotted. Enyimba chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu, signed for Enyimba while Barca’s rep did likewise for the Catalans. With the club-to-club issue sorted out, the seal on the deal should be a routine medical. Thanks to the La Liga/NPFL partnership, it took Bassey under two hours to secure his Spanish visa.
One thing stands out in all these – the boy was positive all the way. For instance, when he was told the deal was not done yet till he passed his medicals, he joked: “na only medical remain? I don pass am naa…(so it’s only remaining the medical? I have passed it already).”
Hmmmmm…a little joke here…he asked the Nigerian facilitator: “Oga, so I am going to Spain to do my medical… Make I no loss there oo…You know say I never travel go out alone before”…He was assured he will be fine there. So, when he got to Barcelona, he was welcomed by Haruna Babangida, who had some stints with Barcelona, and now works with the club. And as his facilitators assured, he has been fine in his new home. Babangida was beside him all through the medicals and made him settle in quickly.
He came in highly rated. Not a few in Barcelona yearned to catch a glimpse of this boy snapped from an African League without doing trials. So, expectedly, he was the cynosure of all eyes at Barca B training on Wednesday morning. And he didn’t disappoint. He got rave reviews from team mates, most of whom were already involved with the main team, and officials. They were astounded by his technical abilities. He was billed to return to Nigeria after three days to sort out his residence permit but the club intends keeping him for three weeks just as his debut is only days away. Thursday morning, he had a meeting with top Barcelona officials. No doubt the boy from Uyo has settled in Barcelona.
Some credit should go to Enyimba Sporting Director, Jude Anyadufu, who first spotted him in Uyo in 2013 while playing for Akwa Starlets. Anyadufu kept a tab on the prodigy even as he made his Premiership debut for Akwa United in 2014 before Enyimba signed him on in 2015.
But his driving force is his mother, Mrs. Bassey, a school headmistress, who, prior to the boy linking up with Enyimba, was managing his career alongside his sister. Since Bassey moved to Enyimba, Mrs. Bassey has been the club’s number one fan in South South. She attends every Enyimba match in the region wearing her son’s jersey.
He has signed an initial loan deal till the end of season, subject to a two-year renewal afterwards. It will be recalled that the likes of Adama Traore moved from Barca B to Everton for €15m same as Gerard Deulofeu. Barca plans to insert even a bigger release clause in Bassey’s contract when the permanent deal is signed in June.
This deal has opened the floodgate for the movement of NPFL players to Spain flying on the wings of the La Liga/NPFL partnership. The Barca deals men were thrilled by the smoothness of the execution… No hiccups… No third parties…And have expressed willingness to do more business in NPFL. In the same vein, about 10 La Liga clubs have called LMC big wigs inquiring about the secret behind the Bassey deal. The consensus is that if Barca could see a worthy talent in the NPFL, then the league must have them in abundance. Now La Liga clubs’ scouting has been included as part of the La Liga/LMC programme for the year. In the coming weeks, the league will become a hunting ground for La Liga teams.
LMC Chairman, Shehu Dikko’s office in Maitama was the situation room from where the deal’s completion was monitored on deadline day. Marca and Barca website followed the deal every step of the way and as soon as the boy scaled the medical hurdle, Anyansi received a mail from Barcelona congratulating him for a successful deal while wishing to do more business with the club in future.
An elated Anyansi couldn’t hide his joy. His words: “This is a landmark deal in Nigeria. We have not had this type before. You know what it means for a player to move from Africa to Barcelona without trials. Now you can stay here as a disciplined player and clubs will come looking for you. Our players should stay here and develop. Nigerian football has been placed on the world map. We thank LMC for the good job. Without the La Liga/NPFL partnership, this may not have been possible.”
Dikko was ecstatic: “When we signed this partnership with La Liga last year, many were sceptical but today we are reaping the gains. You know that Bassey was part of the boys we took for the La Liga tour. You should also note how speedily he got his Schengen visa. You know how difficult it is to get a Schengen visa. This partnership smoothened the ground. Remember that the Spanish ambassador was at the signing ceremony at Hilton last year,” he said.
“Our players will benefit more from this partnership.
For Barcelona to sign a player directly from NPFL, it means we are doing something right here. We now have to know that the whole world is watching and we have to keep improving. There will be more demand for the players in our league now, so we have to keep creating the enabling environment. Football is a huge foreign exchange earner and we see it as such,” he added.
