Nigeria midfielder Ogenyi Onazi has completed his move from Italian Serie A club Lazio to Turkish Super League side Trabzonspor.
Trabzonspor announced last week that they had agreed a a four-year contract worth €5m for the 23-year-old, who helped the Super Eagles win the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Onazi, who Biancocelesti valued at £7m, was linked with Premier League sides Swansea, West Ham and Sunderland, as well as Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos and Turkish champions Besiktas in the summer window transfer market before Trabzonspor surfaced out of nowhere to land the player.
The former My People star, whose contract with Lazio was scheduled to end in 2018, struggled for starts at the Rome outfit last term.
The White and Blues confirmed on Tuesday they had sold Onazi, who made 19 appearances for them last season, to the Black Sea Storm.
“S.S. Lazio communicates that Ogenyi Eddy Onazi has been sold on a permanent basis to Trabzonspor,” the 2013 Coppa Italia champions said in a short statement.
Onazi, who represented Nigeria at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, guiding them to the second round, didn’t say goodbye to his teammates at Stadio Olimpico. He launched scathing attacks on them, accusing them of being dishonest.
“I’ve never had a friend in Lazio. There you make people laugh, and then stab you in the back. All the time I was alone,”Klix.ba quoted the player as saying.
Meanwhile, Lazio are currently looking to Ligue 1 candidates Paul-Georges Ntep and Ivan Cavaleiro to replace Antonio Candreva.
The sale of their international star to Inter left a gaping hole on the Biancocelesti’s wing, but they have a number of options to fill it.
Il Corriere dello Sport reports that there are two primary candidates for that position, only one of which will join the Italian side.
The first is Stade Rennais’ Ntep, who plays mostly as a forward, but whose quick pace and technical skill allows him to be deployed in Candreva’s role.
The second is Monaco’s Cavaleiro, who is a more natural winger. Both players would be a solid investment for the future, being aged 24 and 22 respectively.
