Guangzhou R&F today announced the signing of young Nigerian striker Aaron Samuel Olanare from Norwegian team Sarpsborg 08. He will join up with his new teammates ahead of their friendly with Bundesliga side Hamburg SV in Foshan.
Despite being only twenty years old, Olanare had a trial at French club Monaco in January but continued to play in Norway where he racked up 11 goals in 28 games for Sarpsborg 08. At 1.89m tall, Olanare offers more height in attack than current Guangzhou R&F striker Abderazzak Hamdallah but given that Hamdallah currently sits third in the CSL goal scoring chart, the Nigerian is most likely to be used off the bench.
Olanare becomes the second Nigerian to play for the blue and whites after former Nigeria captain Yakubu scored 25 goals in 45 games for the Cantonese. The club will be hoping that Olanare can both score as many goals and attract as many new fans as his more renowned countryman did in his spell in Guangzhou.
Apart from senior foreign player Davi who is in his third season for the club, the signing of Olanare continues the Cantonese side’s approach of singing younger foreigners with 25 year old South Korean World Cup squad member Park Jong-Woo the oldest of the other four. R&F are currently enjoying a better season than many predicted and manager Sven Goran Eriksson is still on the lookout for domestic defenders to further strengthen his squad as they attempt to qualify for the ACL for the first time.
by Donald Ross
