Nigeria forward Gift Orban has sealed a long-term move to Bundesliga outfit TSG Hoffenheim, just 12 months after transferring from Belgium's Genk to Olympique Lyon.
Considering how well Orban performed for Gent — where he was a scoring sensation in the UEFA Europa Conference League — and, before that, for Norwegian club Stabaek, his time in France proved something of a let-down, yielding just five goals in 21 outings.
It certainly did not help that Lyon themselves have been rather unsettled in that time, but Orban would hope that life in Germany brings an upturn in fortunes.
And that hope would, at least in part, be inspired by the stories of Nigerian strikers who have found success playing in the German top-flight over the years — including these five.
5 Nigeria strikers Orban can look to for inspiration
Jonathan Akpoborie
Jonathan Akpoborie was the first Nigerian striker to really make a mark on German football, back in the nineties.
He had made a bit of a name for himself in the Bundesliga 2, drawing top-flight interest and eventually signing for Hansa Rostock in the 1996 winter window.
An impressive stint there would propel Akpoborie onto the radar of bigger sides in the league, culminating in highly fruitful years at Stuttgart and Wolfsburg.
By the time the former Super Eagles marksman brought his Bundesliga career to an end in the early noughties, Akpoborie had racked up 144 appearances and 60 goals — no Nigerian has played or scored more in the division's history.
Victor Agali
Right behind Akpoborie on both charts is Victor Agali, who was signed by Rostock just a year after the former had left their ranks.
He, too, shone for the coastal club, managing ten goal involvements in 22 league games, before another of Germany's heavyweights, Schalke 04, came swooping for his signature.
There, in the Ruhr area, Agali, a physically imposing forward, carried on with his impressive form, ultimately bowing out of German football in summer of 2004 with 32 league goals in 143 games.
Victor Osimhen
It may have been in France, Italy, and now Turkey that Victor Osimhen has earned renown in the European game, but Germany was his first stop, arriving at Wolfsburg in 2017, while still a fresh-faced teenager.
The youngster only made 14 Bundesliga appearances and never got off the mark, scoring-wise. However, that adaptation period no doubt did him a world of good, setting him up well for the success he has gone on to enjoy elsewhere.
Taiwo Awoniyi
Like Osimhen, Taiwo Awoniyi also arrived in Europe with a reputation built at youth level — one so huge, in fact, that it took him right from his homeland all the way to Liverpool.
The Reds sent him on quite a few loan moves around the continent to grow in experience, a trajectory that brought him to the Bundesliga twice. The first, at Mainz, was undistinguished and blighted by a severe concussion he suffered.
It was the other, at Union Berlin, that proved so productive that Awoniyi returned on a permanent deal.
That, in turn, provided the springboard from which Awoniyi launched a return to England, where he currently is on the books of Premier League side Nottingham Forest.
Overall, Awoniyi got 21 league goals — 26 in all competitions — during his relatively brief but truly remarkable spell in the Bundesliga and is still fondly remembered by Union fans.
Victor Boniface
Victor Boniface has only had one full season in Germany thus far, but, for fans of Bayer Leverkusen, he has already achieved legendary status.
That came by virtue of the 21 goals and 10 assists he contributed to the most successful term in the club's history, 2023/24, as Leverkusen swept the DFB-Pokal, a maiden Bundesliga title, and reached the final of the UEFA Europa League.
And despite injury keeping him out of action since last November, the 24-year-old — who worked his way to Germany following spells in Norway and Belgium, not unlike Orban — has started well this season, with eight goals and an assist in only 15 matches for Die Werkself.
