Valencia coach Carlos Corberan has declared he has no intention of changing Super Eagles striker Umar Sadiq\u2019s personality, describing the Nigerian forward as an exceptional character whose sense of humour adds genuine value to the dressing room as he continues to repay the club\u2019s faith with a strong run of form, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.\n<\/p>\n
Sadiq returned to Valencia permanently in January after ending his association with Real Sociedad, and has scored three goals in his last four La Liga appearances to go with three assists in his last 11 league matches. His resurgence has been one of the brighter stories at the Mestalla as the club push clear of relegation trouble.\n<\/p>\n
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Corberan was eager to celebrate what Sadiq brings beyond goals.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cNo two footballers are ever the same in a locker room, no two people are ever the same. We all come from different families, different cultures and different countries, and we have to enrich ourselves and bring out the best in each other,\u201d he told Futbol Fantasy.<\/p>\n
The coach was clear that his positive assessment extended across the squad, but singled Sadiq out specifically. \u201cSadiq is an exceptional guy, a player whose sense of humour is part of his personality. I don\u2019t want to change him, I\u2019m not going to change him, and I don\u2019t intend to change him,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Corberan also explained the thinking behind Sadiq\u2019s January signing, pointing to the impact he made during his first spell at the club in the second half of last season, when he scored six goals in 19 appearances and helped Valencia survive relegation. \u201cHe\u2019s here at the club because we really liked what he gave us last year. He offers the team very good options, so we\u2019re happy with that,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
Sadiq\u2019s most recent contribution was a decisive solo goal at San Mames that sealed a 1-0 away victory over Athletic Club, his third league goal in four matches.<\/p>\n
The win lifted Valencia to 12th on 42 points and eased the pressure around their top-flight status. His overall tally since joining permanently stands at four goals and three assists in 17 league appearances, a return made more impressive given he went seven straight matches without scoring earlier in the season before rediscovering his touch against Mallorca, Girona, Athletic Club and others in recent weeks.\n<\/p>\n
With Super Eagles coach Eric Chelle expected to name his squad for the Unity Cup shortly, Sadiq will be hopeful that his form has made a strong case for inclusion.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Valencia coach Carlos Corberan has declared he has no intention of changing Super Eagles striker Umar Sadiq\u2019s personality,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[874,2319,301,7292,6438,1143,1314,6571,95],"class_list":{"0":"post-23271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-valencia","8":"tag-carlos-corberan","9":"tag-football-news","10":"tag-la-liga","11":"tag-mestalla","12":"tag-nigerian-football","13":"tag-real-sociedad","14":"tag-super-eagles","15":"tag-umar-sadiq","16":"tag-valencia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}