Vancouver Sun

Whitecaps add ‘box-to-box’ midfielder

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The Vancouver Whitecaps moved to fill the midfield hole left behind by the injury to Matías Laba by signing Nigerian midfielder Nosa Igiebor. The Friday deal includes the remainder of the 2017 Major League Soccer season, with club options for 2018 and 2019. Laba, who had successful knee surgery last month and is out for the season, has been placed on the disabled list. Igiebor will slide into Laba’s internatio­nal spot on the roster.

“Nosa is a box-to-box midfielder who brings a lot of experience having played in some of the top leagues in the world,” Whitecaps head coach Carl Robinson said in a release. “When you have an opportunit­y to bring in a player with this pedigree, you take it. Nosa adds competitio­n for places in our midfield, which will only help strengthen our group.”

Igiebor will join the team pending receipt of his Internatio­nal Transfer Certificat­e, Canadian work permit, visa and medical examinatio­ns.

The 26-year-old Igiebor has appeared in more than 300 matches at the profession­al level, including 28 appearance­s in Spain’s toptier La Liga, 21 in the UEFA Europa League, and four in the UEFA Champions League, and had two goals in 15 appearance­s with the Nigerian men’s national team.

He was most recently a member of Çaykur Rizespor in Turkey’s top-flight Süper Lig, where he recorded a goal and two assists in 15 appearance­s, including a pair of Turkish Cup matches, during the second half of the 2016-17 season.

Before that, Igiebor spent three seasons with Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel’s Premier League and two seasons with Real Betis in Spain. The 5-foot-10 midfielder also enjoyed stints with Hapoel Tel Aviv in Israel’s Premier League, Lillestrøm in Norway’s Eliteserie­n, as well as Sharks FC and Warri Wolves FC in his native Nigeria.

During his time in Israel, Igiebor was a two-time Israel State Cup winner, scoring the gamewinnin­g goal for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the 2011-12 final, in addition to winning the 2014-15 Israeli Premier League and Toto Cup titles with Maccabi Tel Aviv.

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