Nairobi News

Kenyan defender Joseph Okumu has been compared to Liverpool’s Virgil Van Dijk amid media speculation linking him to English Premier League side Arsenal.

The Gent defender has been one of the outstanding players in the Belgium league this season, performances that have seen him linked with a number of clubs in Germany and England.

“We have had informal interest from English side Arsenal and Scottish giants Celtic, but German side Borussia Dortmund is the first side to make an official inquiry about the central defender who is open to a move if a proper agreement is reached,” the player’s agent explained in an interview with the European media.

The Celtic Star however suggests Okumu’s agent could be using the Scottish giants to drive up his value.

“The window for this player to have been a reasonable target for Celtic closed last summer,” the paper opines. Now he’s proven in Scandinavia and in Belgium, Celtic are not a destination likely for Okumu, instead it seems his agent is using Celtic’s name as leverage to smoke out the likes of Dortmund and Arsenal into making a bid.”

According to Johan Larsson, who played with the towering Kenyan in Sweden, his former teammate has ‘similar qualities’ to Van Dijk.

He told Fotbollskanalen, as covered by HITC Sport: “He has similar qualities. So it is not a stupid comparison, but it is also a tough comparison to live up to.”

Okumu commenced his professional career at the defunct Kenyan Premier League side Chemelil Sugar before enjoying stints at Free State Stars in South Africa, and in the USA.

A tall central defender with an array of passing abilities, Okumu’s breakthrough came when he starred for Kenya at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, earning a move to Sweden thereafter.

It has not been all rosy for Okumu in Sweden however. He was recently spat at by a white woman during a league match in Belgium as a sign of racism. The club condemned the incident and promised unspecified action against the curlprit.