Five years ago, then Flying Eagles coach Paul Aigbogun made frantic efforts for Swedish club IFK Goteborg to release Alhassan Yusuf for the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland.
It was a lost battle as Goteborg held on to their highly prized midfield “Superman”.
On Tuesday night as he flew back to his Belgian base, Alhassan, bandy legs and humility personified, got the phone call to replace injured Wilfred Ndidi on the Super Eagles squad to the 2023 AFCON in Cote d’Ivoire.
It was a most deserved recognition of what this versatile midfielder has accomplished in Europe in the past six years even if took forever to come through.
In 2018, soon after he turned 18, the FC Hearts star was rewarded with a first professional contract by Goteborg after a stellar performance at the Gothia Cup in Sweden.
He will help the club win the Swedish Cup and for him to be voted the Young Player of the Year in Sweden.
Ambitious Belgian club Antwerp paid under Two Million Euros to sign him in July 2021 and last season, he justified this acquisition by playing a major role in their winning the league and cup double as well as the Belgian Super Cup
Besides his whole-hearted industry, which has got several Premier League clubs keeping tabs, Alhassan, 23, is a central midfielder known to bring stability and creative juice that has been so lacking in the Super Eagles.
‘Hasse’, a nickname he earned in Sweden, is tactically shrewd and technically gifted even though he could improve on his number of goals and assists.
Last season, before a mysterious ankle injury that took several months to heal he was always the first name on the team sheet of Antwerp Dutch coach Mark van Bommel.
This term he attracted a lot of attention on the back of his well-taken goal against Portuguese giants FC Porto as well as a masterful display in front of the home fans that led to the fall of mighty Barcelona, all in the UEFA Champions League.
It may have been the misfortune of another player that finally presented him with his Super Eagles chance, but you can be rest assured he is a top quality addition for the AFCON.
He could well be the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle that the Super Eagles have so desperately craved for.
