Failed Wonderkid #12- Chinedu Obasi

Biodata

Full Name: Chinedu Ogbuke Obasi

Nationality: Nigerian

Date of Birth: 1 June 1986

Position: Forward

Current Club: Free Agent

Current Market Price: 400kl Euro (Updated on Nov 2019)

Highest Market Price: 8.00mil Euro (Nov 2009)

Former Clubs:

2005- 2007 Lyn

2007- 2012 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

2012 Schalke 04 (loan)

2012- 2015 Schalke 04

2016 AIK

2017 Shenzhen

2017 AIK

2018 Bolton Wanderers

2018 IF Elfsborg

2019 AIK

International Career:

2005- 2011 Nigeria

Achievement:

None

Career

Making your mark in the Europe top leagues is very difficult, especially when the player is originated from the other continent. Any glimpse of hope might be contributed to a heavier fall in the latter stage of the career. Therefore, football fans might see a lot of cases that the football player from the other continent show bags of promises in the early stage of his career, only to find out that they failed miserably in the upcoming years in football. Here is one of the example.

Chinedu Obasi started his football career at River Lane Youth Club Enugu and JC Raiders in Nigeria. He went to Norway at the same time as his fellow countryman, John Obi Mikel to join Lyn. However, his life in Norway isn’t as smooth as Mikel. Obasi struggled to gain game time in his first-year stay in Norway. His performance was improved in his second season as he was named as the Young Player of the Year in the 2006 Tippeligaen season. With his reputation in the European League was started to grow as his performance in Tippeligaen has been impressive, Obasi was linked with moves to top European clubs such as Wigan Athletic, Manchester United, Chelsea, and even Barcelona at that time. However, Obasi was eventually signed for the 2.Bundesliga side at the time, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. It is a decision that shocked most of the football fans at that time

Unlike the slow sign in Norway, Obasi made an instant impact in his new club as he scored twice on his debut against Freiburg. His 12 goals and 8 assists contribution have helped his team to reach promotion to Bundesliga. He was also the club’s top scorer alongside Demba Ba in that season too. Obasi was part of the squad that led the Nigerian Olympic team to finish runners-up at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. He missed out the beginning of the season due to injuries and national team commitment. This had affected the preparation of facing a tougher opponent in the Bundesliga. Still, Obasi still finished the season with 6 goals and 4 assists in all competitions. His second season in Bundesliga was still respectable, in which he registered 8 goals in all competitions. However, injuries had affected his career as Obasi missed most of his game due to the stress response of the bone. His form dropped dramatically since then.

On December 2011, Obasi was confirmed to be on loan at Schalke 04 for the remaining of the season. Despite his career was still hampered by injuries, Schalke 04 still signed Obasi on a three-year contract. However, in his three years stay in Schalke 04, Obasi still struggled with injuries and didn’t rediscover his form. He was released by the club after his contract has expired. Since he left Schalke 04, Obasi was handed a trial by Sunderland and Eintracht Frankfurt. Both teams had decided against signing him following the trial due to his fitness concern. On August 2016, Obasi signed a short-term contract with AIK. He made 10 appearances and scored 6 goals as AIK finished second place in the league. However, Obasi rejected the new contract and signed for Shenzhen FC under Sven-Goran Eriksson in China. Hence, Obasi started his nomadic career across Asia and Europe.

Since then, Obasi had signed for Shenzhen FC, two spells in AIK, Bolton Wanderers and Elfsborg. However, he never regains his form in any of the clubs he joined. Obasi remained as a free agent since he didn’t renew his contract in AIK in December 2019. At the age of 33, it is quite hard for us to see Obasi fulfil his potential as most of the football pundits tipped him to be at the beginning of his career due to his fitness issue.

Verdict

Disappointment Rate: 7.5/10. Another career hampered by the injuries. It is still hard to figure out how high Obasi’s achievement will be if he regains full fitness. However, this will be just another ‘What If…’ questions that remain unsolved.