Philip Otele, the 24-year-old Nigerian striker who joined Romanian club CFR Cluj in the summer of 2023 after a season and a half at UTA Arad, has been making his mark in this year’s Romanian Super League.
With 13 goals and 6 assists in 31 games for CFR Cluj in the Romanian Super League, Philip Otele has attracted the attention of a big Premier League club.
The English daily Standard reports that Roberto De Zerbi’s Brighton are monitoring the work of the Nigerian striker with a view to a possible transfer next season.
The source also says that, should the transfer materialise, Otele will be loaned to Union St Gilloise in Belgium “before being given a chance in the Premier League”.
The case could be similar to that of Adrian Mazilu (18), transferred by Farul on 1 January 2024 for 3 million euros. The winger, who was trained at the Hagi Academy, was then loaned to Vitesse, the penultimate-placed team in the Dutch top flight, until the end of this season.
The English report that Brighton are willing to offer the 4 million euros that owner Ioan Varga is demanding to release Otele, a sum that the Seagulls consider “a bargain”.
The English also report that at the age of 14, the Ardennes footballer tried to play for Arsenal, but the Gunners were unable to register him due to visa problems.
This winter, the Nigerian footballer received offers from Bordeaux (Ligue 2) and Lorient (Ligue 1) in France, but CFR Cluj’s management considered the offers, worth 1.8 million euros, to be too low, so no transfer materialised.
