Brighton look to bring Nigerian winger Philip Otele to the English Premier League

ENGLISH Premier League side Brighton and Hove Albion are looking to sign Nigerian winger Philip Otele from Romanian side CFR Cluj during the forthcoming summer transfer window for a fee said to be around £3m.

Otele, 24, has had a brilliant season in the Romanian league so far, scoring 13 goals and providing six assists in 30 league matches. He now appears to have embarked on a unique pathway that has taken him from the lower leagues of English football to Europe and is now set to have him return to the Premier League.

A right-footed attacker, who plays on the left wing, Otele may, however, have to spend some time on loan at Brighton's sister club Union St Gilloise in Belgium, before getting a chance in the Premier League. Moises Caicedo, Denis Undav and Simon Adingra are among the first-team players to have benefited with a spell in the Belgian top-flight before ultimately returning to the Seagulls.

Otele trained with Arsenal as a 14-year-old, but could not stay in the UK due to visa restrictions, so had to be sent out to Europe. He later returned to the UK to study at Teesside University while also playing semi-professional football for Wolviston, before building a career in Europe.

Back in 2019, Otele first went professional, joining Kauno Zalgiris of Lithuania in his first stint abroad. He then earned a €300,000 move to Romanian minnows Uta Arad and after 18 months, he joined Romanian giants Cluj for €650k, where he has since played in the UEFA Conference League.