Spanish side, FC Barcelona, have announced that they are not renewing the contract of Nigerian defender, Godswill Ekpolo, thereby ending an 11-year-old relationship with the player. Ekpolo was due for a new deal this summer but Barcelona have apparently decided against offering him a new deal which will see the 21-year-old depart the Blaugrana who he has been with since the age of 10. The defender was born in Nigeria but moved to Spain at a very tender age and started out with local youth sides before being snapped up by CDC Torreforta.
He was scouted by Barcelona and was signed on for the juvenile side. He worked his way through the ranks at La Masia and was one of the players tipped to make the first team. Ekpolo went ahead to play for the Barcelona U-18 and U-19 sides helping them to win the Nike Premier Cup in 2010 and the Uefa Youth League in 2014.
That UEFA Youth League winning side had such players a Cameroonian goal keeper, Fabrice Ondoa, Sergi Samper, Sandro, Adama Traore and Munir El-Haddadi. Though he played mainly for the youth sides and the Barcelona B side, Ekpolo trained with the first team on a number of occasions but his progress was stunted by an injury which made him miss a large chunk of the 2014/15 season.
Ekpolo, who played for the Nigeria U-23 side in the 1-0 friendly win against Brazil will weigh his options in the coming days before deciding his next destination.
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