One time Super Eagles captain designate Lukman Haruna is reportedly close to sealing a January switch to Serbian side Partizan Belgrade, Owngoalnigeria.com can exclusively reveal.
The 25 year old has been clubless since leaving Kazakhstan side Astana few months ago, but he has been keeping shape by training with the junior team of Dynamo Kiev.
His move to Partizan Belgrade is already close to completion but he won’t be joining the team until the transfer window re-opens in January.
Back in 2010, he was fast tracked to the senior Nigeria national team after the U-20 World Cup in 2009, and made the Nigeria team to the World Cup, with then coach Lars Lagerback tipping him to captain the team in the future.
However, a poor club career put a stop to that prediction and his comeback to the Nigeria senior team this year didn’t go as planned, as he was yanked off by coach Sunday Oliseh 25 minutes into the AFCON 2017 qualifiers tie against Tanzania.
Since then he has been in the international wilderness and his club form is also a source of concern to many, who rate him highly as he has failed to make any reasonable headway the last two years.
Haruna was one of the stars of the 2007 U-17 World Youth Championship, leading the Nigerian team to glory as captain, a feat which earned him a move to French giants Monaco.
He spent three and a half year with Monaco before leaving for Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine, where he somehow lost his way and failed to really get back to his best despite loan spells with Hoverla and Anzhi in Russia.
In January he moved to FC Astana of Kazakhstan where he spent just three months and played 10 times for the team before his deal was reportedly terminated.
