Newcastle United have started preparing for the January transfer window and posted high level scouts to monitor Nigeria’s dare-devil striker, Aaron Samuel, who plies his trade with Russian giants, CSKA Moscow.
The Point gathered that the Nigeria international is also on the radar of several Premier League clubs, but Newcastle and Tottenham were following up on checks they made when CSKA beat Young Boys in the play-off round of the UEFA Champions League, last month.
The 23-year-old is under contract with the Muscovites until the summer of 2021, having joined the club on a permanent basis in the winter transfer market.
Samuel had courted interest from the Premier League before his switch to CSKA, with Everton reported to have opened talks with the striker and his camp.
The Dolphins of Port Harcourt product is a typical Nigerian striker, very physical and can also operate as a left or right winger.
On record, Samuel has netted over 30 goals for his clubs since he departed the shores of Nigeria.
Nigeria coach Gernot Rohr recognised the combative nature of the star striker and recalled Samuel from the standby list to the main squad, in the wake of Arsenal’s Alex Iwobi being forced to withdraw with a leg injury in the two-legged World Cup qualifying ties against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun.
Under normal circumstances, losing a first team player would be a weakness, a blow to the squad, especially as they are facing African champions, Cameroon.
Though Iwobi would certainly have been an asset, 6ft2in Samuel’s style appears better suited to this particular opposition because of his physique.
The CSKA man is big, burly, quick, and would never stop breathing down or shy away from a scuffle from any rampaging opponent. Putting himself in harm’s way in search of goals comes as second nature, and it’s how he got his first of only two goals for Nigeria.
Against Sudan in 2014, he found himself amidst a sea of bodies and instinctively threw out his favoured left peg into the fray to stab home a close range rebound.
He would always be the perfect muscle foil or substitute for any of the starting forwards in the Super Eagles squad, as he remains one of Nigeria’s hottest stars in Europe.
Samuel is not lacking in the skills department, and can match almost any of the other forwards for speed of foot and thought. But where he takes the edge is in his ability to get into, and come out on top of, a good scrap.
