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The random transfer news keeps emerging today. Tottenham Hotspur has just announced via Twitter that academy graduate and attacking midfielder Nathan Oduwa has been sold... to Slovenia. Oduwa is joining Slovenian PrvaLiga defending champions Olimpija Ljubljana on a permanent transfer.
We have reached agreement with Slovenian top-flight side Olimpija Ljubljana for the transfer of Nathan Oduwa. We wish Nathan all the best. pic.twitter.com/1QaJIJzHNX
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) February 14, 2017
We had heard murmurs that something was in the works between Oduwa and Olympija for a couple of weeks now, but the sourcing was unreliable and I decided to wait to write on it until things became a little clearer. Well, things are certainly clear now.
The 20-year old Oduwa hit Tottenham fans’ consciousness like a sledgehammer last season when he had a half season loan with Rangers while they were still in the Scottish second division under (now former) manager Mark Warburton. There, Oduwa made waves in the opening few games with some flashy moves including a rainbow flick that pissed off a lot of Scottish second division players. Despite that bright start, Oduwa gradually faded and ended his loan at Rangers after only half a season.
Since then, Oduwa has gone on loan to the lower levels of English football to Colchester United and, most recently, Peterborough United. He’s been back at Spurs since January 1 and has been playing in the Premier League 2 with Spurs’ U21 development squad.
I can’t currently find any information on the details of the transfer, so we don’t know how big the transfer fee is. I also have absolutely no knowledge of how good a club Olimpija Ljubljana is, except they won their league last season and dropped out of the Champions League in the second qualification round on the away goals rule after a 6-6 aggregate draw with Slovakian team AS Trenčín.
So it’s weird! But whatever. Oduwa clearly wasn’t going to be sniffing the Tottenham first team anytime soon, so this is probably a move that makes sense for all parties. Good luck to Nathan. Hopefully Slovenians are more open to devastating nutmegs and skill moves than your average Scot.