Mikel Agu
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mikel Ndubusi Agu | ||
Date of birth | 27 May 1993 | ||
Place of birth | Benin City, Nigeria | ||
Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1] | ||
Position(s) |
Defensive midfielder, centre back | ||
Youth career | |||
2011–2012 | Porto | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2012–2015 | Porto B | 69 | (2) |
2014–2019 | Porto | 2 | (0) |
2015–2016 |
→ Club Brugge (loan) | 2 | (0) |
2016–2017 |
→ Vitória Setúbal (loan) | 27 | (0) |
2017–2018 | → Bursaspor (loan) | 23 | (2) |
2018–2019 |
→ Vitória Setúbal (loan) | 18 | (1) |
2019–2022 | Vitória Guimarães | 27 | (1) |
2022 | Fuenlabrada | 15 | (0) |
2022–2023 | Shonan Bellmare | 0 | (0) |
2023 | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 7 | (0) |
International career‡ | |||
2017– | Nigeria | 8 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 05 September 2023 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 05 September 2023 |
Mikel Ndubusi Agu (born 27 May 1993) is a Nigerian professional footballer who played as
Club career
Early career
Mikel Agu started his career with grassroots team Megapp FC in Nigeria. He took part in the 2009 Copa Coca-Cola, where he was chosen as the best player of the tournament, attracting the interest of scouts.[2] After the tournament, Agu joined the youth academy of Porto.
Porto
Agu was first signed under the Porto-U 19 setup training with the senior team with the occasional bench appearance. His development would see him play 2 seasons for Porto B before eventually getting an opportunity to play for the first team. Agu made his debut against Gil Vicente in a 2–1 win coming as a substitute for Josué. Doing so, he became the first Nigerian to play for the club.[3] Following his wonderful performance in Porto B, the then manager Paulo Fonseca promoted him to the main team.[4] He would then be sent on loan to gain experience playing in the first division.
Seeking playing opportunities at Porto, Agu was deployed mostly in the Porto B team, with whom he made 69 league appearances between 2012 and 2016. He completed over 30 appearances in each of the 2012–13 and 20–2014 seasons.
Loans
At the start of 2015/2016 season, after making one appearance for Porto B, he went on loan to
Agu was loaned back to the Portuguese league for the 2016–17 season, which served somewhat as a breakout season for him. He made 27 league appearances, starting 25 times; and 34 total appearances in all competitions for
In August 2017, Agu joined Turkish side Bursaspor on a season-long loan deal.[5] He then spent the 2018–19 campaign on loan at former side Vitória de Setúbal before leaving Porto permanently in 2019.
Vitória de Guimarães
On 18 July 2019, Agu signed a three-year contract with Vitória de Guimarães.[6] After featuring sparingly in his first two years, he was separated from the squad ahead of the 2021–22 season, and terminated his contract on 15 January 2022.[7]
Fuenlabrada
On 15 January 2022, just hours after leaving Vitória, Agu moved to Spain and signed a short-term deal with CF Fuenlabrada in Segunda División.[8]
Shonan Bellmare
In September 2022, he signed with Japanese side Shonan Bellmare.[9] He left in June 2023 having played once. [10]
International career
He was selected by Nigeria for their 35-man provisional squad for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[11] Agu made his senior debut for Nigeria in a 3-0 friendly win over Togo on 1 June 2017.[12]
In May 2018 he was named in Nigeria's preliminary 30 man
Style of play
Agu's style of play can be likened to former Chelsea player
Honours
Club
- Club Brugge
- Belgian Pro League: 2015–16
- Belgian Cup: Runner-up 2015–16
Individual
- Tournament MVP Copa Coca-Cola, 2009
References
- ^ "Mikel Agu" (in Japanese). Shonan Bellmare. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
- ^ a b c "Agu Scouted". Thenationonlineng.net. 31 August 2015.
- ^ "Another Mikel explodes: Nigerian star Mikel Agu receives praise for historic FC Porto debut". Newsexpress. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
- ^ "Mikel Agu Promoted To Porto First Team". Soccerladuma. Archived from the original on 24 March 2014. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
- ^ "OFFICIAL: Nigeria's Mikel Agu joins Bursaspor on loan". Goal.com. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- ^ "Mikel Agu assina contrato até 2022" [Mikel Agu signs contract until 2022] (in Portuguese). Vitória SC. 18 July 2019. Archived from the original on 19 July 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ "Mikel Agu termina ligação ao Vitória SC" [Mikel Agu ends link with Vitória SC] (in Portuguese). Vitória SC. 15 January 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ "El Fuenla ficha a Mikel Agu" [Fuenla sign Mikel Agu] (in Spanish). CF Fuenlabrada. 15 January 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
- ^ ミケル アグ選手 加入のお知らせ Shonan Bellmare
- ^ "【平塚市】湘南ベルマーレはミケル アグ選手の退団を発表 | 湘南人". 湘南人 | 湘南エリアの最新ニュース・グルメ・イベント穴場情報満載! (in Japanese). 28 June 2023. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
- ^ Oluwashina Okeleji (24 June 2016). "Kelechi Iheanacho included in Nigeria's Olympics squad". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
- ^ "Internationals (Sky Sports)". SkySports.
- ^ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man listsm". Goal.com. Retrieved 15 December 2021.
- ^ "Iwobi named in Nigeria World Cup squad". Bbc.co.uk. 3 June 2018.