Nigerian striker Hafiz Umar Ibrahim, 18, has been sent on trial by Chelsea; Raheem Sterling was a major factor in the decision.
Ibrahim obtained a visa and had a video conversation with Sterling before starting a two-week trial at Cobham on Monday.
He was signed from under the radar of Norwegian team Bodo/Glimt, who had him on trial last week. He plays for Ojodu City in Nigeria.
Ibrahim will now compete to join Chelsea and work under manager Mauricio Pochettino.
African academies are a growing source of potential for Chelsea, as evidenced by Joe Shields, co-director of recruitment and talent, who was involved in the Ibrahim trade.
Ibrahim is anticipated to sign with Chelsea’s French associate club Strasbourg if his trial is successful.
Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali, Chelsea’s co-owners, are eager to establish a youthful squad at Strasbourg as they work to grow their multi-club plan under the BlueCo banner.
Ibrahim has been noticed by European teams since he scored 10 goals in six games at the Viareggio Cup in Italy earlier this year, including one against the Under-21 team of Manchester City.
Similar to Romelu Lukaku, the former Chelsea striker currently on loan with Roma in Italy, the 6′ 2″ target man describes himself.
The reason he liked Lukaku, according to him earlier, was that he battles, is powerful, scores, assists his team, and does everything. He said this to Soccernet Nigeria.
