According to Allnigeriasoccer.com, Kelechi Nwakali will continue his development in Portugal by signing for Porto on a season-long loan.
Since signing for Arsenal in 2016, the 20-year-old midfielder has spent two years in Holland, including two spells for MVV Maastricht and six months at VVV-Venlo.
Despite impressing for Nigeria at the under-17 World Cup, Nwakali hasn’t made the step up to full international level in the last couple of years making it tough for Arsenal to secure him a work permit to play in England.
Porto won the Primeira Liga last season, their 28th Portuguese title, so it’s a great club for our youngster to go and hone his game. It’s said he’s agreed personal terms and the player hinted at an imminent announcement by sharing a photo of himself in the city on Instagram.
Huh, Porto is a big club, so obviously I’m a bit worried for his playing time, but if he manages to fight his way in their team, that’s the best possible news for everyone involved. Good luck to the boy.
If he’s good enough to play for us, at 20, he needs to be getting into their first team now. This will be quite a critical year for him. Good luck to him. I’d really like one or more of our hyped youngsters to really make an impression this year be it Nwakali, Nelson, Nketiah or The Jeff. Joe Willock doesn’t seem like he will quite manage it at the moment. He plays it safe a lot (not a bad thing, but he won’t stand out). I hope he steps up this year and becomes a bit more adventurous and… Read more »
Could be a great move for the lad. Porto are a big club, hopefully he can step up to their first team level and not just spend the whole season with Porto-B(where I’m assuming he’ll start).
No way he’s getting a work permit this summer, best to send him on loan early so he has a full pre-season to integrate. Looks like he’s in the national team’s thoughts still too (scoring for the B team against Atletico), which is important for us.
Certainly in the National team’s thoughts. Some in the country feel he should have been given opportunity to stake his claim on a spot in the team for the world cup. Make no mistake, he’ll break into the national team sooner rather than later.
He will probably play in the sub23 team of FC Porto. No big chances in the first team, but good luck! 🙂
If they can guarantee him a decent amount of game time then this is a great loan.
It doesn’t need to be guaranteeing he always starts, but he really needs to play a decent number of games.