The management of 2021/22 champions of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL), Rivers United has distanced itself from the reported transfer of one of its key players, Ishaq Rafiu Kayode to NK Maribor, a Slovenian club.
Eighteen-Eleven Media reports that the 21-year-old joins Maribor on a 3-year-deal after enjoying a superb 2021/22 season in the NPFL with Rivers United.
Ishaq scored 14 goals and provided 3 assists for Rivers United to help clinch the league title which obviously impressed Maribor.
A statement on the official NK Maribor website by the club’s sporting director, Marko Suler welcomes Ishaq to the club and reveals the rationale behind the signing.
The 21-year-old forward is primarily a left-footed winger who plays predominantly on the right but can also play down the middle as a centre-forward.
“He is a player with penetration, speed and concreteness, as well as rarely seen physical strength”, Suler said of Ishaq.
“It can mean an appropriate choice for the purpose of realizing our competitive goals, and also for a further step forward from Maribor, as the players from Nigeria often prove as a breeding ground for talent”, the statement concluded.
But Rivers United in a statement said it’s the attention of the management of Rivers United football club of Port Harcourt has been drawn to what it described as “a fictitious report being circulated in a section of the social media suggesting that our player Ishaq Rafiu Kayode has left the club.
“Such a report is completely false and a product of the imagination of mischief makers with the intent of misleading the unsuspecting members of the public.
“Ishaq Rafiu Kayode is still a bonafide player of Rivers United FC as his contract with the team is still valid and as such, any purported transfer without the knowledge and consent of Rivers United FC will only be a breach of contract.
“As a club, we are not aware of any such purported transfer as the player only absconded from the club and this position has been made known to FIFA thus any acquisition of the player without our consent is null and void.
“It is important to also note that Rivers United FC remains the only club that can release the said player to any other club when the proper things are done.”