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Liverpool have beaten the likes of PSV Eindhoven and Ajax to sign Barcelona winger Boddy Adekanye as a free agent, Sky Sports reports. The highly-rated teenager posted a picture of himself in the media room on his Instagram account.
Barcelona-FIFA Transfer Stand-off
Liverpool took advantage of the impasse between FIFA and Barcelona. The embargo was over the player’s recruitment into the Catalan club’s renowned academy La Masia. According to FIFA, Barcelona illegally signed Adekanye when he was 12 years old in 2011.
The Spanish side believes otherwise. The stalemate between the two led to the player being banned from playing competitively for the Spanish giants. He was consequently sent to PSV on loan last season.
The Dutch side failed to get his signature which prompted the English side to sign the player. Even though Barcelona wanted him to stay in Holland, the skilful prodigy chose Merseyside as his destination.
Adekanye was born in Nigeria, but was brought up in Holland after his parents migrated when he was four. He was called up by the Dutch FA for their under-16 Algarve Cup back in February, and was impressive in all his outings against Germany, Portugal and Spain.
Blessed with pace and agility, the left-footed winger is being compared to Arjen Robben. He also extrapolates the legacy of La Masia, which has produced world-class players like Cesc Fabregas, Messi, Xavi in the recent past.
Liverpool’s new-look team
He joins the likes of Danny Ings, James Milner, Joe Gomez, Roberto Firmino, Adam Bogdan and Nathaniel Clyne into a new look Liverpool team for the upcoming season. He now goes straight into the academy to bolster Liverpool’s youth structure.
Brendan Rodgers has been under pressure for quite a while now after a poor season. The seven new signings indicate the swiftness in the manager’s action. With his new look team, he hopes to challenge for the Premier League crown, which they narrowly missed two seasons ago.
Star in the making :
