Tijani scored 11 league goals last season, eight of which came at the end of the spring season. With the team from Vršov, he is already preparing for a training camp in Aigen, Austria. The participant of the U20 World Cup in 2019 will meet former national team teammate defender Igoh Ogbue in Slavia. Tijani started with football in the Nigerian club 36 Lion, where former stars Peter Olayinka, Yira Sor and Moses Usor also worked.
“I’m excited, I like challenges. The transfer to Slavia is exactly the kind of challenge I wanted. I’m looking forward to the European matches, to the fans. I’d like to be the league’s top scorer one day. Igoh and I know each other from the youth team, he has in my heart special place. Olayinka was definitely an inspiration not only to me but to other footballers from Nigeria. I would like to be as successful as him one day,” said Tijani.
“We got a fit, strong, productive striker. He had a fantastic spring season, but we have been watching him for a long time. We believe that he will make further progress under our implementation team, he is still only twenty-two years old. He knows Igoh, he will help him in acclimatization. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that his engagement in Eden goes according to his and our ideas,” added Slavia sports director Jiří Bílek.
Photo: Vlastimil Vacek, Law
The hero of football Slavia – midfielder Ewerton – celebrates a goal.
Tijani is Slavia’s second offensive summer signing after Mojmír Chytil. The 24-year-old national team striker transferred from Olomouc to the second team of the last league year.
Twenty-six-year-old Ewerton had an excellent season before last in Mladá Boleslav, where he scored 11 goals and six assists in 34 league games. After coming to Slavia, he didn’t make much headway in the face of great competition and scored two goals and an assist in 14 matches in the top flight.
“We believe that he is a player who can help us a lot with his offensive skills. He knows the competition and the environment, he is perfectly tested in terms of football through his several years in our league. Since he has been in Europe for seven years, I don’t even consider him a classic foreigner, he didn’t have would have no problem with acclimatization,” said Luděk Mikloško, head of Baník’s sports department.