German Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt recently concluded the signing of Nigerian midfielder Raphael Onyedika from Belgian side Club Brugge, OwnGoalNigeria.com reports.
Onyedika has been a long term target of the German side over the last two transfer window, and they finally got their man on a deal that will run till the summer of 2031.
He will be looking to continue in the footsteps of legendary Nigerian midfielder Austine Okocha, who is regarded as one of the greatest players to have played for the team.
Many expected him to be handed the iconic shirt number of Okocha, but that wasn’t the case as he got the number 25 jersey despite the availability of the number 10 shirt, which is currently vacant.
When speaking to Bild, Frankfurt sporting director Markus Krösche revealed why none of the new signings were given the number 10 shirt:
“I have clear principles when it comes to the number 10 shirt. The player has to earn the right to wear it. The number is something special, and is associated with a lot of tradition, especially for us, if you think of Jürgen Grabowski, for example.”
Jürgen Grabowski is a Frankfurt legend, the forward was part of the side that won Frankfurt’s maiden European trophy when they won the UEFA Cup in 1980, Grabowski played 545 games for Die Adler. He was also part of the West Germany side that won the World Cup in 1974 as well as the Euros in 1972. Grabowski passed away in 2022 a couple of months before Frankfurt’s Europa League triumph that same year.
The last player to wear the number was winger Filip Kostic before he moved to Juventus and before him was Marco Fabian. It is clear that Krösche is adopting a policy where the players need to contribute with goals and assists as well as winning overall to earn the right to wear the number 10.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
