Chelsea Shower Praise On Nigerian Striker Once Regarded As The 'Next Abraham'

Published: September 16, 2019

Chelsea have showered praise on Ike Ugbo following his latest goal for Dutch club Roda JC Kerkrade in the Eerste Divisie.

Ugbo has been in his best form since turning professional, with his goal against FC Eindhoven on Friday, September 13 his third in four matches in the division.

The 20-year-old was once touted to be the next Tammy Abraham as he was as prolific as the England U21 star during their time with Chelsea's youth teams but loan spells at Barnsley, Milton Keynes Dons and Scunthorpe United did not really work out.

While Abraham netted 72 goals in 102 appearances for Chelsea's U18-U23 teams, Ugbo scored 63 goals in 106 games, making comparisons between the two young strikers of Nigerian descent inevitable.

In their weekly review of players on loan, Chelsea wrote : ''Ike Ugbo continued his good form in the Netherlands, notching his third goal in four games with a header to earn Roda JC a 1-1 draw with FC Eindhoven.

''The previous weekend when most loanees did not play for clubs due to the international fixtures, Ugbo scored in a 2-1 win versus Top Oss''.

Ugbo trained with Chelsea's first team in pre-season before heading to the Netherlands to join Roda on a season-long loan.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : rodajckerkrade.nl