The world is full of young football talents. They grow up in the streets of São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Abuja or Belgrade, and the world is literally to their feet, so to speak.
These lads are on a mission to become the stars we will watch tomorrow. The next Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi or João Felix.
At the same time, there are beautiful projects that focus on these players, from the Guardian’s top 60 young footballers yearly plan, the unique and high-quality Scouted Football, among others.
We are not going to compete with them. However, in our work and research in BabaGol, we discover many players that don’t get the focus or the chance to showcase what they can produce.
With that in mind, we have decided to share snippets of our source of knowledge. Our shadow scout, Juan Gafas, will pop-up weekly and will put the spotlight on one player that is worth your attention. This can be viewed as a tip for all BabaGolers to meet the next Jamie Vardy and Dado Pršo, or maybe the next Gary Medel or Jorge Valdivia, a moment (or a few years) before they become famous.
This week, we visit Hungary and check on a Nigerian winger who is lighting it up on the flanks.
Obinna Nwobodo
Age: 23
Club: Ujpest (Hungary)
Position: Winger and Central Midfielder.
Nationality: Nigerian
Market Value: €500,000 (Transfermarkt)
Why follow him? One of the quickest players you will see, very difficult to stop when he is coming at you with top speed, and this season he developed his ball delivery. He is becoming more versatile and lethal than ever.
The first time I saw Obinna, he was playing against Sevilla in the Europa League qualification last season, and he was a nightmare for the Spanish defence. The Nigerian was coming at them constantly and fearlessly, and didn't look out-leveled facing the likes of Sergio Escudero, Sergi Gomez and Sebastien Corchi. Although he missed a good chance to score, he later brilliantly assisted a goal. Obinna is a gifted dribbler when he has space, as his amazing burst of pace is usually enough to unbalance the defender, succeeding more than failing, but he tends to overdo it. This season he is still at the top of the Hungarian league in dribble attempts, but not as high as before, and he added another weapon for his arsenal which is his accurate ball delivery. His two assists in the recent victory over Puskas are a good example. With a small improvement in his end product, as I believe should score and assist more considering the number of times he reaches the opponents box, and Obinna can do very well in a big league like La Liga.