By Balogun Kamilu Lekan
Biography
Umar Sadiq Mesbah is a Nigerian Super Eagles team member who also plays as a striker for the Spanish club Real Sociedad.
He was born on February 2nd, 1997, in Kaduna, where he started his football career. Umar Sadiq is 25 years old as of 2022
He was a prominent member of the Nigeria bronze-winning under-23 team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Career
Club Career
Umar started his career with the Kusa Boys football team before heading to the Future of Africa Football Academy and later to the Football College of Abuja in the capital city of Nigeria.
In 2013, he was part of the Football College of Abuja that travelled to Croatia for the Kvarnerska Rivijera youth tournament. In a contest, Sadiq led his team to win, being the top goal scorer.
He caught the attention of some top European clubs but ended up signing for an Italian side, Spezia.
His spell at Spezia never yielded any success as the striker never made any top appearance for the club.
He was included in the club’s reserve team, bagged 26 goals in 24 appearances and ended up being the “Campionato Primavera” top scorer in the 2014–15 season.
Following his success with the reserve team, he joined Roma on a one-year loan.
He was included in the AS Roma’s reserve team, where he bagged eight goals in his first three Primavera appearances. This earned him a spot in the first team, and he made his debut in the Seria in a 2-2 draw against Bologna.
Sadiq netted his first Seria A goal against Genoa when he came as a substitute for Mohamed Salah in the 82nd minute.
His second Seria A goal came against Chievo Verona
Sadiq then signed a four-year permanent deal for AS Roma in 2016
His spell with the Italian club ended in several loans to various other clubs.
Later in 2016, he was loaned to Bologna until the end of the season, where he made only seven appearances for the club.
He was sent to another loan spell to Torino in 2017 before heading to Dutch side NAC Breda on another loan. He ended up bagging five goals in 12 Eredivisie appearances.
Sadiq was sent on another season-long loan to Scottish Premiership side Rangers in July 2018. He made only four appearances in all competitions with the team before being sent to Serie B side Perugia on another loan.
In 2019, he was loaned to Serbian side Partizan an option to buy clause. He made his debut for the club against In?ija on July 21st. His first goal for the team was in a 4–0 home league victory over Ma?va Šabac in August that year. Sadiq scored his first professional hat trick against Javor Ivanjica in a thrilling 6–2 home league win.
Sadiq signed a five year permanent deal for Spanish Segunda División club, UD Almería in 2020.
He helped Almeria secure promotion to La Liga and was their leading goalscorer for two consecutive seasons.
He spent two years with the club before joining Spanish La Liga side Real Sociedad until the end of the 2027–28 season.
International career
In July 2016, Sadiq was part of Nigeria’s 18-man squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He made an appearance in all the six matches the team played at the tournament, with him netting in four of them, including a brace in the third-place victory over Honduras.
Umar was then called up to join the super eagles for the 2022 African Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Benin and Lesotho in 2021.
In 2022, he was part of the Super Eagles team for the African Cup Of Nations tournament. The striker scored a goal, but the team crashed in the second round.
Girlfriend
There is no public information about Sadiq’s relationship at the moment.
Net worth
At Almeria, the striker earned a weekly salary of N5,540,437 and got N265,941,000 per annum.
His deal with Real Sociedad is worth €20m plus €6m add-ons on a five-year contract.
Sadiq currently earns about $2.5 million per year with the club.
The striker is not left out in stars with a taste for exotic cars as he was spotted with a Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which was worth about 70 million naira
HE is reportedly worth a net worth of between $3.5 million – $ 15 million. However, NewsWireNGR cannot independently confirm this.
Achievements
Honours
Roma Primavera
Campionato Nazionale Primavera: 2015–16
Almería
Segunda División: 2021–22
Nigeria U23
Olympic Games bronze medal
Individual
EaglesTracker MVP of the Season award
Almeria Player Of The Season Award
Spanish Second Division Player of the Month award
