SCORENigeria can exclusively reveal that AC Milan were among the first European clubs who were interested in signing Anderlecht history-making debutant Paul Omo Mukairu.
The Italian giants were alerted to his immense potentials at an invitational tournament in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, three years ago.
He featured for FC Hearts and also played for the tournament All-Stars team alongside Sunsel FC star Jordan Kadiri, who is currently with Belgian club Lommel after he shone in Sweden.
A top scout at that tournament will promptly recommend the striker to mighty Milan, while French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice were also interested in the promising forward as well as a handful of clubs in Portugal.
Former FC Hearts midfielder Alhassan Yusuf also featured in the competition.
He is now the top star of Swedish club IFK Goteborg.
“Paul got a lot of teams and scouts interested with what he showed in Porto Novo,” an official told SCORENigeria
“Milan and Nice showed the most interest and even sent invitations to the player.”
In the end though, the player found himself in Turkey from where he has now gone on loan to Belgium’s most successful club Anderlecht, where he got off to a flying start on his debut against Antwerp on Sunday.
That was after a clutch of Italian clubs like Genoa, Spezia and Sassuolo as well as Belgian clubs Mouscron and OH Leuven also launched bids for the highly-rated winger or striker.