Hong Kong star Udebuluzor attracting interest from former European champions

Michael Udebuluzor’s impressive start in Hong Kong colours has attracted interest from two-times European champions FC Porto, and a number of high-flying German clubs.

The teenage striker has scored twice in five national team appearances, after his debut in September drew a line under a long-running passport saga.

He also has eight goals from 10 appearances for the second string of club team Ingolstadt 04 this season. The 19-year-old’s contract with the German third-tier side expires at the end of the current campaign.

And a well-placed source has told the Post that multiple German clubs, including second-tier club Greuther Furth, are rivalling Portuguese giants Porto in the chase for Udebuluzor.

“A number of teams in the top two divisions in Germany are keen on Michael,” the source said. “And Porto and Greuther Furth are both very interested. All the clubs want Michael to join their under-21 squads, but train with the first team.”

Porto have won 30 domestic titles, and were Uefa Champions League winners under Jose Mourinho in 2004, 17 years after the club’s first European title. They need only a draw with Shakhtar Donetsk next week to reach the last-16 of this year’s competition.

Udebuluzor was born in Hong Kong in 2004, when his Nigerian father, Cornelius, was playing football in the city.

The teenager relinquished his Nigerian citizenship to obtain eligibility for Hong Kong, and made his debut in a 10-0 drubbing of Brunei. In October, he scored twice in the World Cup play-off victory over Bhutan that secured Hong Kong’s passage to the group stage of Asian qualification for the 2026 tournament.

Udebuluzor has been hampered by hamstring issues of late, but is expected to be fit to link up with Jorn Andersen’s Hong Kong squad for a pre-Asian Cup training camp, beginning on December 14.

Head coach Andersen, meanwhile, has received a boost ahead of the continental competition, after Kitchee forward Juninho received his passport.

Andersen has publicly expressed his wish to have Juninho available for the Asian Cup, which Hong Kong will play in for the first time since 1968.

The player will be added to a 41-strong preliminary training squad, although he is currently in the final stages of recovery from a thigh injury that has sidelined him for the past three weeks.