Umar Sadiq, a rara avis of the Lim era, signs for Valencia | OneFootball

Umar Sadiq, 28, has signed for Valencia until June 2028 and can be involved against Elche on Saturday.

The Nigerian, who won over the squad and Mestalla during six months on loan last season, is a rara avis of the Lim era.

He is the first January buy authorised by Peter Lim since 2019, when Rubén Sobrino cost five million euros, a deal that cleared the way for Batshuayi’s exit. Since Sobrino, Valencia’s 11 winter reinforcements arrived on loan, including Sadiq.

Sadiq is the fourth most expensive January signing of the Lim era. The fee is four million plus a further one in add-ons, including 500,000 euros deemed straightforward. Only Enzo Pérez, 25 million in 2015, Francis Coquelin, 14 million in 2018, and Rubén Sobrino, five million in 2019, cost more.

At 28, he is the seventh costliest signing aged 28 or more since Lim became majority shareholder in 2014. He is also the veteran for whom the largest fee has been authorised since Jasper Cillessen in 2019, with Negredo, Enzo, Garay, Gameiro, Nani and Cillessen costing more.

Valencia have lately tended to leave business late. Both his moves bucked that trend, last winter he was in the city by the third of January and this time the announcement came on the eighth. It is a clear sign of Carlos Corberán’s urgency.

Source: AS