Abubeker Nasir has been announced as a Mamelodi Sundowns player. Picture: Gavin Barker/Backpagepix.
Mamelodi Sundowns have announced the capture of Abubeker Nasir of Ethiopia. Nasir was signed by Downs early this year, but was loaned back to his side Ethiopian Coffee.
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Nasir made an impression at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, even though Ethiopia finished at the foot of Group A with just one point. He was invited to a trial at Downs, where he impressed the technical team.
What exactly caught the eye of Masandawana to go all the way to get talent in Ethiopia, a country that is rather popular for athletics than football, you may ask?
Abubeker made his professional debut in 2020 at the age of 20 at the time, playing a total of 14 games in the Ethiopian Premier League and scoring 27 goals.
In the current season he has turned out 21 times for Coffee and found the back of the net 14 times, living up to his billing as the golden boy of East African football, as he is often described in that region of the continent.
He may be the cream of the crop in his country but at Downs he will have to prove himself as he will be competing with the likes of Pavol Safranko, Bradley Ralani, Gaston Sirino, and the rest of Sundowns’ frontline players.
His arrival puts pressure on Downs’ foreign quota as they now have Erwin Saavedra, Gaston Sirino, Pavol Safranko and Divine Lunga, – the Premier Soccer League permits each team to register five non-South African players, leaving a question mark around the registration of Abdelmounaim Boutouil. The 23-year-old Morrocan defender has reportedly signed a five-year deal with Downs
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