BY MONICA IHEAKAM
Buoyed by the five new signings by the club, Akwa United’s boss, Paul Bassey is optimistic that his team will emerge the Nigerian champions when the league ends later in the year.
The journalist-turned football administrator told the media yesterday in Lagos that he was thrilled by the new comers to the club as the league resumes today.
Akwa United are fifth on the log and are pitched against second placed MFM of Lagos in the reversed fixtures of week 19 matches.
He was particularly thrilled with the new signings to the club. “With them, if we don’t win here in Lagos, I will be disappointed. God helping us, we are going all out for greater performances,” he said.
He was particularly thrilled with the inclusion of Ojo Olorunleke, a goalkeeper from Sunshine Stars. “He caught six penalties while he was in Sunshine”, said Bassey.
The goalkeeper has been assigned jersey number 30. Continuing, Bassey said he woke up with the current league table on his mind and he felt, his club should have done better than the fifth position it had in the first stanza.
“We had a terrible first round which was occasioned by fatigue and the stress of travelling up North.”
The other players the club unveiled include Edem Akakatang from the Akwa Starlets and Christopher Lolo from Katsina United.
Akwa United went offshore to import players from abroad. Gabriel Okechukwu is joining the club from FC Karpaty of Ukraine and Harmony Ikande joins from Cyprus-based Aris Limassol.