Crew Looking at Nigerian Striker.

Finally, this much talked about mystery man from Africa has been nearly identified. I say nearly because on a blog from Shawn Mitchell today, a rough outline of who this guy is has been given:

Here's what I know so far about the Nigerian striker the Crew is attempting to bring in for a look-see: He is 25 and played in Israel for several years. He signed with a team in Romania last season but suffered a knee injury and did not play. I don't have a lot of time to devote to identifying this player right now, which is a required part of the game that is played when talk to turns to foreign acquisitions. Anybody up for the task?

Well, since you asked, I think it's Ibezito Ogbonna. From his Wikipedia page:

Ibezito Ogbonna (born March 27, 1983) (Age 25) is a Nigerian football player. After spending four seasons in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, Ogbonna signed a two year contract with CFR Cluj in Romania

He only managed to play approximately 4 minutes for the Romanians though, suffering a serious injury early in the season that kept him on the sideline for a year. Ogbonna was recently released on a free by CFR Cluj and is currently looking for a new club.

I'd say we've found our man. As far as what he can do, here's a crappy highlight reel:



Looks like he can get on the end of setpieces and corners, and he's fast enough to outrun defenders. At least, Israeli league defenders. So we'll see how he does in Columbus.

Also, what are we calling him? "Zito"? "Oggy"? I vote for "Ibezzy"...