Who is Ahmed Musa, Leicester City’s record signing?

By on July 6, 2016

Having captured the Premier League title with a collection of astutely assembled journeymen, Leicester City’s transfer business this summer will be watched with keen eyes all over the world.

Though the club were relatively quiet in June (presumably still celebrating their incredible league triumph), they’ve started quietly winding up the gears in the transfer market, off the radar and under cover of the Euro 2016 knockout stages.

They’ve recently splashed the cash on Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa from Russian club CKSA Moscow, according to the BBC. Leicester were originally linked with Musa in the January transfer window, when they reportedly offered to shell out in excess of £15m for the in-form forward; yet CSKA didn’t want to sell in mid-season and only now does the skillful, speedy winger appear to be on his way to England. Per numerous reports, he is set to fly out to the King Power Stadium on Wednesday for a medical.

On the back of his most successful season ever, Musa’s stock has never been in such high demand. It is widely reported that he will become Leicester’s most expensive signing ever for a fee in the region of £18m. It will be the second time Leicester have broken their transfer record this summer following the £12.5m capture of French midfielder Nampalys Mendy.

Musa reportedly attracted interest from Southampton, Everton and West Ham United, but the opportunity to lead Leicester’s first ever foray in the Champions League will undoubtedly have helped sway him in the direction of the reigning Premier League champions.

The Nigerian forward is only twenty-three but he joins Leicester with over four years of European experience with CSKA Moscow. He started every one of Moscow’s six Group Stage games in the Champions League last year, scoring in their 3-2 victory over PSV Eindhoven.

Musa might have grown up a world away from the Premier League but was always destined for football’s highest echelons. He was apparently nicknamed “Cristiano Ronaldo” while growing up in Nigeria and played for the Aminchi Football Academy in his hometown of Jos.

At the age of just seventeen, he joined the Kano Pillars in the Nigerian Premier League and became an instant star. He broke the Nigerian scoring record in the 2009/2010 season with eighteen goals and briefly trained with Lars Largerback’s national team squad before the 2010 World Cup as well.

That summer Musa took a huge step in his career with a move to Europe, signing for Dutch first-division team VVV Venlo. The move had to be held up until Musa turned eighteen in October of 2010, per FIFA rules, but upon arrival, he won a penalty within an hour of his debut with the club.

He might have moved to the Premier League a lot earlier, having piqued the interest of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur during his time in the Netherlands, but Russian champions CSKA Moscow jumped the gun to sign Musa early in the January transfer window in 2012.

At the age of nineteen, Musa was far from the finished product but became more tactically aware under the guidance of coach Leonid Slutsky. Having mostly played wide right for Venlo, Musa became comfortable on the left and up top for CSKA as well. At just 5’ 7” tall, a central position doesn’t necessarily come naturally to him, but Slutsky gave Musa ample opportunities to grow his game.

“I am eternally grateful to Slutsky,” said Musa, per Four Four Two. “He made me a real footballer.”

Musa helped lead the club to three league titles in four years and also began to make his name on the international stage. He has already made fifty-eight appearances for Nigeria at the age of twenty-three and won the African Cup of Nations with the Super Eagles in 2013. He burst onto the scene at the 2014 World Cup, netting a brace in the Super Eagles’ 3-2 loss to Argentina in the group stages, his two goals being excellent examples of how far he has come in Russia. Although he still has ways to grow in many regards, his finishing abilities have improved dramatically and his two-footedness and pace make him nearly impossible to defend.

Having scored a career-best seventeen goals in all competitions last season the heights of the Premier League beckoned.

His mentors at CSKA admitted as much, with general manager Roman Babaev saying: “Musa deserves to play in the Premier League. We were very lucky to have him, both as a footballer and as a person. Ahmed works a lot and is very reliable. He wasn’t disappointed when we decided not to sell him in the winter, but rather promised to help us win the title.”

CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky also said: “If you look at the way things are done over there, you’ll see he is a player just made for English football.”

Indeed, Musa’s breakneck pace could make him a strong addition for Leicester’s counter-attacking style of play should the club wrap up the deal in the coming days. He may become yet another shrewd signing for the Foxes, who set out to add some depth to their roster this summer in the case of injuries to Jamie Vardy, Shinji Okazaki, Riyad Mahrez, Leonardo Ulloa or Marc Albrighton, whose consistency was the root of their title success last season.

Musa will be able to fill in for each and every one of them, no problem.

Homepage photo credit: Xavier Rondón Medina [CC BY-SA 2.0], via Flickr

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.