After scoring nine times in 30 games for Alaves on his debut season in Spanish LaLiga, Samuel Omorodion is poised to join Atletico Madrid’s first team for next season barring any last-minute change, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
Atletico have high hopes for the 19-year-old they signed last summer and the expectation has been that he will be a good addition to Diego Simeone’s squad for next season, especially with Alvaro Morata, Angel Correa and Memphis Depay all linked with moves away.
The rise of Omorodion, who was born in Spain to Nigerian parents, has been one of the spectacular stories of the season following the 19-year-old forward’s loan move to Alaves from Atletico after the Los Rojiblancos activated his €6m release clause to sign him from Granada.
And while many across Spanish football appear convinced that ‘Samu’, as Omorodion is popularly known, is ready to make the step up, officials of Los Rojiblancos aren’t so sure.
They believe the young striker is not yet at the level required to be included in Simeone’s first-team squad but Simeone believes otherwise.
“Samu will have the chance to prove himself,” Simeone told Mundo Deportivo. “The plan is to include him in Atletico Madrid’s pre-season squad, and if he continues to impress, he could secure a permanent place.
“It’s not fair to talk about a guy (Omorodion) who is elsewhere, the work he’s doing speaks for itself and at the end of the season, we can discuss more things. He’s in another place, and I have a lot of respect for where he is.”
Meanwhile, despite a bid of €45m from a Premier League club for Omorodion, Atletico stand firm on their valuation of the promising striker, insisting on payment of his €90m release clause, according to Diario AS.
Omorodion will hope to end his seven-game goals drought when Alave host Celta Vigo in a LaLiga game on Saturday.
He is currently tied with former Nigerian striker, Christopher Ohenhen, for the same number of goals scored in a debut season in LaLiga.
Ohenhen scored nine league goals in 19 games in his first LaLiga season for SD Compostela during the 1994/95 season.
And Omorodion will be aiming to make history for the most goals scored by any player of Nigerian descent in the history of LaLiga against Celta.
In the past, Nigerian players Ikechukwu Uche and Obafemi Martins came close to achieving the feat.
During the 2006/07 season, Uche scored eight goals plus one assist in 31 games on his debut season in LaLiga with Recreativo Huelva.
Uche went on to score a total of 43 goals and 42 assists in 194 LaLiga games playing for Granada, Villarreal, Real Zaragoza and Getafe.
Martins, who was on loan at Levante from Seattle Sounders during the 2012/13 season, scored seven times and made three assists in 21 games for Los Azulgranas.
