By Akinwale Kasali
Super Eagles Captain and Al Nassr Football Club of Saudi Arabia Winger, Ahmed Musa, has finally opened up on what led to his movement to Leicester City Football Club of England.
The former CSKA Moscow Football Club of Russia forward joined the 2015 Barclays English Premier League Champions following the speculated movement of Algerian midfielder, Riyad Mahrez, to Manchester City Football Club, prompting the Club to sign Musa.
Musa felt deceived by the Leicester City management who had told him that the main reason for signing him was to replace Mahrez who was on the verge of leaving the Club, not knowing he was deceived and brought in as a back up for the Algerian superstar.
Musa joined Leicester City for a club-record fee of £16.6million in July 2016, with the Super Eagles star managing only two goals in 21 Premier League games for Leicester as he was behind Mahrez in the pecking order at the King Power Stadium.
“Before they signed me at Leicester City, they told me Riyad Mahrez was leaving,” Musa said on Instagram Live with South African sports broadcaster, Carol Tshabalala.
“If I knew that Mahrez is going to stay, I would not join Leicester, and I would have remained at CSKA Moscow. When I came, we had a lot of wingers at Leicester City, yet, I still got the chance to play.”
The Algeria international did not, however, did not leave the King Power Stadium until the summer of 2018 when he moved to Manchester City.
Musa initially returned to CSKA Moscow on loan for the remainder of the season, before finally calling it quits at Leicester in 2018 to join the Saudi Arabia club, Al Nassr.
The forward revealed he started his career as a goalkeeper while in primary school and was so good in the position he was made the school’s games prefect.
Ahmed Musa later switched to an outfield player and joined GBS Football Academy and his pace and dazzling skills distinguished him in the youth team.
It did not take too long before he was noticed by Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) clubs and subsequently teamed up with JUTH FC on loan.
His breakthrough came when he joined Kano Pillars on another loan move and went on to score 18 league goals in the 2009-2010 season, becoming the first player to achieve the feat in the NPFL.
“When I was in primary school in Jos, I was a goalkeeper. I started as a goalkeeper, I don’t even know what brought me to start playing as an outfield player,” Musa said on Instagram Live.
“Yes, I enjoyed the role. In primary school, I was the games prefect and I was one of the best goalkeepers in the primary school”.
After his eye-catching performances in the Nigerian league, he signed for VVV-Venlo in 2010 but the move was delayed because he was still 17 years of age.
In October, he joined the Dutch side when he turned 18 years and explained he wanted to return to Nigeria due to the weather conditions in the Netherlands.
“They saw me when I was playing in the WAFU home-based tournament in Abeokuta which Nigeria hosted and we won,” he continued.
“I signed my professional contract here in Abuja but I couldn’t travel because I was 17 then I had to wait until I was 18.
“When I was 18, I flew to Holland, only had two training sessions before I played my first game, it was not that easy and the weather was crazy.
“I was crying when I was playing because of the cold. One day I said to myself I can’t make it and need to go back to Nigeria but we Africans have one mentality – that whatever you want to do you can achieve it.
“I was saying I’m going to get to deal with it and my agent told me with time I’ll get used to the weather.”
In 2012, Musa left the Netherlands for Russia, joining CSKA Moscow and enjoyed great success, scoring 42 league goals in 125 appearances and helped his side win three Russian Premier League titles, Russia Cup and Super Cup trophies.
His form generated interest from a number of European clubs before settling for Leicester in 2016, who were recently crowned Premier League champions.
Musa was part of the victorious Super Eagles team that won the 2013 African Cup of Nations tournament in South Africa and his also the only player in the history of Nigeria to have scored four goals in two World Cup tournaments.
He scored a brace against Argentina in the Super Eagles 3-2 loss to the Lionel Messi inspired Argentine team at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil and another brace against Iceland in the Super Eagles 2-0 win at the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
He is also the second player to have represented Nigeria in all age grade competitions after Haruna Lukman.
He was part of the Golden Eaglets, Flyings Eagles, Olympic Eagles and the Super Eagles team till date.
