Umar Sadiq Mesbah (born 2 February 1997) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for La Liga club

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

and the Nigeria national team. Sadiq formerly represented the Nigeria national under-23 team and was an important member of the squad that won a bronze medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Club career

Early years

Born in Kaduna, Sadiq started playing football on the streets of his hometown at an early age. He later played for local team Kusa Boys, before joining the Future of Africa Football Academy and finally the Football College Abuja. In June 2013, Sadiq traveled with FCA to Croatia and participated at the Kvarnerska Rivijera youth tournament. He finished as the competition's top scorer and helped his team become the champions.

Spezia

Following his promising performances in Croatia, Sadiq was acquired by Italian club

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

. He failed to make any first-team appearances, but played regularly for the youth setup. In the 2014–15 season, Sadiq became the Campionato Primavera top scorer, tallying an impressive 26 goals in 24 games.

Loan to Lavagnese

Shortly upon joining Spezia, Sadiq was loaned to

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

side Lavagnese, making his senior debut in the final round of the 2013–14 season.

Loan to Roma

In July 2015, Sadiq joined

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

on a one-year loan. He was transferred alongside his teammate and compatriot

Nura Abdullahi Nura Abdullahi (born 17 August 1997) is a Nigerian former professional footballer. Club career He made his Serie B debut for Perugia on 3 February 2018 in a game against Cittadella. He retired in April 2019 on medical grounds. References ...

for €250,000 each with a buyout clause of €1,250 million per player. Having bagged eight goals in his first three Primavera matches for Roma, Sadiq made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

debut on 21 November, replacing

Juan Iturbe Juan Manuel Iturbe Arévalo (born 4 June 1993) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club Aris and the Paraguay national team. Iturbe represented the Paraguay national team in a friendly match ...

after 88 minutes in a 2–2 away draw against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. He scored his first goal on 20 December, netting only seven minutes after coming on as an 82nd-minute substitute for

Mohamed Salah Mohamed Salah Hamed Mahrous Ghaly ( ar, محمد صلاح حامد محروس غالي, ; born 15 June 1992), also known as Mo Salah, is an Egyptian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Liverpool and captains the Egypt ...

, helping his team to a 2–0 home win over

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

. On 6 January 2016, Sadiq bagged his second goal in his first start for Roma, opening the scoring in the 7th minute of an eventual 3–3 away draw against

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

. He finished the season with two goals in six Serie A appearances.

Roma

On 21 June 2016, it was announced that Roma exercised the option and signed Sadiq, as well as Nura, permanently until 30 June 2020. He traveled with the first team to the United States for the

2017 International Champions Cup The 2017 International Champions Cup (or ICC) was the fifth edition of a series of friendly association football matches, organized to simulate a tournament. It began on 18 July and ended on 30 July 2017. Teams Matches China ---- ---- ...

, scoring in his only appearance against

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As F ...

, as Roma lost after penalties.

Loan to Bologna

On 31 August 2016, Sadiq was sent on loan to

until the end of the season with a purchase option. He appeared in seven

games, before returning to Roma.

Loan to Torino

On 16 August 2017, it was announced that Sadiq would be joining

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

on loan until 30 June 2018. The deal included an option to make the move permanent with a buyback clause in favour of Roma.

Loan to NAC Breda

In January 2018, Sadiq moved on a six-month loan to Dutch side

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

with an extension option. He helped the club narrowly avoid relegation, contributing with five goals in 12

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

appearances.

Loan to Rangers

In July 2018, Sadiq joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...

side

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long loan. After just four first-team appearances in all competitions, his loan spell was terminated by the end of the year.

Loan to Perugia

In January 2019, Sadiq joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

side

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and par ...

for the remainder of the season. He scored three times in 17 appearances, helping his team to an eight-place finish with a chance to win promotion to Serie A via the playoffs. However, Perugia lost in the preliminary round to

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

after extra time.

Loan to Partizan

In early July 2019, Sadiq completed his loan move to Serbian club

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: ** AK Partizan, athletics **Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling **Džudo Klub Partizan, judo ** FK Partizan, association fo ...

that included an option to buy. He made his official debut in a 1–0 away league win against

Inđija Inđija (, ; hu, India) is a town and a municipality located in the Srem District of the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. As of 2011, the town has total population of 26,025, while the municipality has 47,433 inhabitants. It is located ...

on 21 July. On 4 August, Sadiq netted his first goal for the club in a 4–0 home league victory over

Mačva Šabac Mačva ( sr-Cyrl, Мачва, ; hu, Macsó) is a geographical and historical region in the northwest of Central Serbia, on a fertile plain between the Sava and Drina rivers. The chief town is Šabac. The modern Mačva District of Serbia is named ...

. He subsequently scored the opener in an eventual 3–1 home win versus Turkish club

Yeni Malatyaspor Yeni Malatyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional football club based in Malatya, Turkey. The club plays in the TFF First League, which is the second tier of football in the country. History Founded in 1986 as Malatya Belediyespor. Its prima ...

in the first leg of the Europa League third qualifying round. Sadiq played his first Eternal derby on 22 September in a 2–0 win over bitter rivals Red Star. Sadiq spent 64 minutes on the field when he was replaced by

Seydouba Soumah Seydouba Soumah (born 11 June 1991) is a Guinean professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Guinea national team. Club career Ajax Cape Town Born in Conakry, the capital of Guinea, Soumah began his football career playin ...

. On 3 October, he netted a brace to give his team a 2–1 away victory against

Astana Astana, previously known as Akmolinsk, Tselinograd, Akmola, and most recently Nur-Sultan, is the capital city of Kazakhstan. The city lies on the banks of the Ishim River in the north-central part of Kazakhstan, within the Akmola Region, tho ...

in Europa League's

Group L A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

. He scored his first senior

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wi ...

in a 6–2 home league win over

Javor Ivanjica Fk Javor Matis () is a professional football club based in Ivanjica, Serbia. They compete in the Serbian SuperLiga, the top tier of the national league system. History In 1912, a student named Milan Radojević brought the first football ball to ...

on 22 November.

Almería

On 5 October 2020, Sadiq joined Spanish Segunda División side

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

on a five-year contract.

Real Sociedad

On 1 September 2022, Sadiq signed a contract with

until the end of the 2027–28 season. Only two days later Sadiq scored first goal on his debut in a 1–1 home draw against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...

International career

In July 2016, Sadiq was named in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

's final 18-man squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics. He appeared in all six of his team's games and scored four goals in the process, including a brace in the third-place victory over Honduras. After a two successful seasons at Partizan and a move to the rising Almería, Sadiq received a call to the Nigerian national team called up for the 2022 African Cup of Nations qualifying matches against

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the nort ...

and

Lesotho Lesotho ( ), officially the Kingdom of Lesotho, is a country landlocked as an enclave in South Africa. It is situated in the Maloti Mountains and contains the highest mountains in Southern Africa. It has an area of over and has a populatio ...

on 27 and 30 March 2021 respectively.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Nigeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sadiq goal.''

Honours

Roma Primavera *

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in t ...

: 2015–16 Almería * Segunda División: 2021–22 Nigeria U23 *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

bronze medal: 2016

References

External links

Profile
at the Real Sociedad website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sadiq, Umar Living people 1997 births Sportspeople from Kaduna Nigerian footballers Association football forwards Nigeria international footballers 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Nigeria Olympic footballers of Nigeria Olympic medalists in football Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Eredivisie players Scottish Professional Football League players Serbian SuperLiga players Segunda División players Spezia Calcio players U.S.D. Lavagnese 1919 players A.S. Roma players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Torino F.C. players NAC Breda players Rangers F.C. players A.C. Perugia Calcio players FK Partizan players UD Almería players Real Sociedad footballers Nigerian expatriate footballers Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Scotland Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Serbia Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Nigerian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands