Paul Onuachu’s season-long loan move from Southampton to the Turkish club Trabzonspor

Paul Onuachu’s season-long loan move from Southampton to the Turkish club Trabzonspor was officially announced on Monday. The move is anticipated to mark a new chapter in the striker’s career.

After a disastrous 12-game stint with the Saints in which he failed to score or provide an assist, the 29-year-old is attempting to resurrect his career in the Turkish league.

Onuachu made a £18 million transfer deadline day move from Belgian club Genk to Southampton on a three-and-a-half year deal, but he left the Saints just seven months later after failing to score in 11 Premier League appearances as they were relegated to the English Championship.

He appeared once in the Carabao Cup this year against League Two.

Onuachu reportedly took a significant pay cut to transfer to Trabzonspor after they promised to pay him €1.5m in two installments since he was keen to establish himself elsewhere.

Onuachu’s transfer to Southampton was meant to dispel any skepticism about his ability to compete and score at the greatest level in one of Europe’s top leagues.

The Saints believed they had acquired one of the most productive attackers in the world, thus the signing was seen as a saving grace. After five months, his signing turned out to be a dead loss, which is unfortunate.

The Nigerian striker’s terrible tenure in the English top division was summed up by his record of zero goals and one assist in 11 EPL games (12 overall) while playing for Saint Mary’s.

Onuachu was a pale imitation of the striker who, when representing Genk and Midtjylland, terrified defenders.

Onuachu was regarded as one of the top pure number nines in the world when he joined Southampton. He would have been a member of most teams. He played mostly in the box and possessed every quality of a true world-class striker.

Goals occupied his attention at both Genk and Midtjylland. In Denmark, the striker scored 74 goals and assisted on 23 others, but his record for Genk is even more spectacular, with 85 goals and 10 assists in 134 games.

However, great expectations, pressure to achieve, and a quick change of coach at Southampton changed that.

Former Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr,  claims that the former Genk attacker joined Southampton at a time when the club was already under pressure to escape relegation.