Leganes of Spain finally gave Kenneth Omeruo his debut in La Liga, as footballlive.ng can report that the Super Eagles stopper got off the struggling club’s bench in the 29th minute of their 1-0 win over Rayo Vallecano.
The dark-skinned stopper, who joined Leganes on loan from Chelsea in the summer got off the bench only because a teammate got injured, but he settled in well and ended up with top marks on the evening at Estadio Municipal de Butarque.
Omeruo, who had been on Leganes’ bench against Real Madrid, Villarreal and Real Betis, was introduced to Saturday’s game after Unai Bustinza sustained an injury, but the former Standard Liege of Belgium, ADO Den Haag of Holland, Middlesbrough of England as well as Konyaspor and Kasimpasa of Turkey star did not disappoint.
In doing so, Omeruo became the 23rd youngest Nigerian player to debut in the Spanish top division aged 24 years, 11 months and 19 days, overtaking Real Betis hero Finidi George in the process.
Despite being inactive for close to a month, with his last game coming with the national team against Seychelles in an AFCON qualifier, Omeruo showed no signs of being rusty on his Liga debut and had an impressive evening.
Leganes were already ahead when Omeruo replaced Bustinza, after which he stepped in aplomb and helped his side’s goalkeeper, Pichu Cuéllar get a clean sheet.
Post-match data showed that Omeruo had a game-high six clearances, shared with Dimitrios Siovas of his side and Vallecano’s Abdoulaye Ba, while the Eagles star also achieved two interceptions and committed only one foul in 61 minutes of action.
