Yesterday Belgium top division side Anderlecht confirmed the signing of Nigerian midfielder Abdularazak Ishaq for a fee reported to be in the region of €4m.
OwnGoalNigeria.com senior editor Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman who knows the 20 year old from his days at his local club in Kaduna state list ten rare things many don’t know about Ishaq, including the origin of the nickname Golden Boy.
1. He started his career from a local team in Kaduna called Unity Academy. Same team that produced Lukman Zakari who was a part of the Nigeria U17 team that won the U17 World Cup in 2015.
2. In 2017 he was part of the Nigeria U17 team that failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations. He is among the few players who have made the step up abroad joining the likes of Arokodare, goalkeeper Adebayo Adeleye and Igho Ogbu.
3. He wasn’t a part of the team and was on his way back to Kaduna from the camp in Abuja when he was summoned to return back as majority of the players ahead of him failed the age test after the carrying out of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test.
4. Comfortable as a midfielder, right winger, left winger or even defensive midfield. He was spotted at a scouting program in Abuja and later in Ghana where he went with a team but with permission from his team Unity Academy.
5. Ishaq was called up to the Ladan Bosso under-20 team of 2020 but left the camp of the team to resume at Norrköping. Prior to that time he has trained with their youth teams and also in test games.
6. At age 13 he was already playing with players of the age of 25 and above due to his abilities.
7. The nickname “Golden Boy” was given to him by the coach of his nursery team Taiye Tiamiyu as he shares same name as ex Ghana international Karim Abdul Razak Tanko who was famously called Golden Boy.
8. He turned down an offer from Union Berlin to join Anderlecht as he believe he will develop a lot faster and better at the Belgium side.
9. It took Norrköping two separate trips to Nigeria to finally seal a deal with for him as a mild tussle over his ownership made it impossible to locate him after the scouting program in Ghana where he was first sighted.
10. The owner of his nursery team turned down a 5 million Naira offer four years ago to sell the economy right of the then 16 year old. The offer was made by the owner of the team that Razak followed to Ghana where he was sighted.
