New Villarreal signing Tani Oluwaseyi flies 31,000 km to renew Nigerian passport to complete transfer

Nigerian-born striker Tani Oluwaseyi has had to travel 31,000 kilometres in a week  and across seven cities and five countries before he could complete his transfer to Spanish La Liga.

Born in Abuja, Nigeria, Oluwaseyi’s Nigeria passport holds extra value in Spain, where its weighed the same as a European Union passport, which expedited the transfer of a player making his first foray into one of Europe’s top five leagues.

But Oluwaseyi’s Nigerian passport had expired, so starting Thursday August 21 he began a whirlwind mission to make sure he had all the correct paperwork, and didn’t leave anything to chance.

Oluwaseyi first flew to Toronto. The next day he flew back to Minnesota then on to Salt Lake City, where he played nearly 30 minutes off the bench in his final game for Minnesota United.

Then to get to Nigeria to renew his passport, Oluwaseyi flew from Salt Lake City to Atlanta then across the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Nigeria on Tuesday, August 26.

After getting his renewed Nigerian passport, Oluwaseyi flew back to Toronto via London Tuesday night, landing Wednesday morning Toronto time. He immediately collected more documents, flew to Spain’s east coast Wednesday night, and landed on Thursday morning to put pen to paper on a five-year contract with one of Spain’s top six teams 

He has since signed a contract until 2030 for a fee understood to be around $12 million.

Tani could now be on the bench this weekend and likely see some game action when his new team travel to Vigo, Spain, to take on Celta Vigo Sunday.