One-time Rangers loanee Umar Sadiq is bouncing back from an injury-hit debut season at Real Sociedad by scoring long-range stunners in successive La Liga games.
And, speaking on El Tel and Jon’s La Liga Weekly podcast, Spanish football expert Terry Gibson cannot be happier for a man finally issuing a riposte to the critics who questioned Real Sociedad’s decision to spend a club-record £17 million on bringing him to San Sebastian in the first place.
Until suffering an ACL injury weeks into his Sociedad career, it had been quite the rise for Umar Sadiq. A man who’d struggle to have hit a barn door with a double bass let alone a banjo at Rangers scoring goals for fun at Almeria before being singled out as the man to fill an Alexander Isak-shaped void in the La Real frontline.
And, after struggling initially after such a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Sadiq is making up for lost time, ending a 14-month La Liga goal drought with a 25-yard screamer against Sevilla before repeating the trick away to Osasuna on Saturday.
Umar Sadiq didn’t get a single goal for Rangers
“Out of the blue, Sadiq scores a replica of the goal a week before!” former Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United forward Gibson smiles. “I’m pleased for him because there was an element of him being ridiculed a little bit because he is different to the other strikers at Real Sociedad.
“Making his way back from a long injury as well, his touch wasn’t as assured as it should be but that’s with being rusty and not playing for a year. I saw a couple of the Real Sociedad players throw their arms up in the air because he wasn’t as technically efficient as some of the others.”
Of course, criticism is nothing new for Sadiq. That miserable, four-game loan spell at Rangers back in 2018 is still best remembered for a dive against Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup rather than the Nigerian’s ball-striking talents.
But there is a reason why Sociedad invested 20 million euros to bring him to the Anoeta last year, with Sadiq slowly but surely rediscovering the knack which saw him hit 43 goals in 84 games for Almeria.
Justifying £17 million transfer fee
“I felt for him a bit. They paid big money for him,” Gibson adds. “His confidence is through the roof now in terms of shooting from distance with power. It was another incredible goal (vs Osasuna).
“To score two goals like that in two weeks will give him massive confidence, and it will give him the belief that he does belong at Real Sociedad.
“It’s been a frustrating year in his life, joining a very big club who ended up playing Champions League football and he wasn’t part of that. It was a brilliant goal so I’m absolutely delighted for him.”
