28 August 2007
Lagos — Super Eagles striker Yakubu Aiyegbeni along with Everton manager David Moyes will be waiting with bated breath this morning as they await the outcome of the appeal lodged by the Merseyside club over the British Home Office rejection of a work permit for the Nigerian international.
The Middlesbrough star had been on the verge of securing a multi-million pound move to Goodison Park when the deal was torpedoed by the Home Office last Friday, which said it could not give Aiyegbeni a work permit because he had not played the required 75 percent of international matches for Nigeria in the past two years.
Incidentally, Aiyegbeni had been a regular for the Super Eagles until falling out with erstwhile supremo Austin Eguavoen two years ago after being left on the bench in the Eagles stunning 5-2 victory over the Desert Warriors in their ultimately failed attempt to make last year's World Cup finals in Germany.
Aiyegbeni, who felt humiliated by his bench warming in Algeria, then decided to boycott the national team as long as Eguavoen was in charge and declined an invitation to be part of the Egypt 2006 Nations Cup team - a miss, which has landed him in his present predicament with the Home Office.
But Moyes, who has made 'Yak' the centre piece of his goal of getting Everton into the UEFA Champions League next season, prevailed on his management to launch an appeal, which is scheduled to be heard by the Home Office today.
The '75 percent rule' was introduced years ago by the Home Office in an attempt to ensure local players are not unfairly denied the opportunity of working by only ensuring top players from outside the UK are allowed to ply their trade in Britain.
However, in spite of this stringent rule, most times clubs are usually able to land their man on appeal, as was the case involving another Nigerian international John Mikel Obi, who had his move to Chelsea last season stalled after the Home Office denied him a work permit.
But after making a case for the youngster, who was only stepping up into the senior team after a sterling performance at the World Youth Championships in Holland, the Stamford Bridge outfit prevailed on appeal and Mikel was able to join up with his new team mates in their pre-season tour of the US.
Should the appeal go through Aiyegbeni will become Everton's most expensive player at £11.25million, smashing the fee paid last season for Andrew Johnson.
Moyes has been keen to land the 24-year-old striker who he believes can transform the Toffees into a credible force in the Premier League.
Over the past four seasons, only former Arsenal striker Thierry Henry has scored more English Premier League goals than Yakubu, who will become the most expensive Nigerian player in history surpassing the £10 million Newcastle splashed on Obafemi Martins last season.
Several Premier League sides have tracked his availability.
Portsmouth brought Yakubu to England on loan from Israeli side Maccabi Haifa in January 2003, signing him permanently three months later.
Pompey sold the hitman to Boro for 7.5 million pounds (15.2 million dollars, 11 million euros) in July 2005.
He scored 36 goals in 81 league games for Portsmouth and has scored 25 times in 73 league matches for Boro.
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