Etoile sign Nigeria's Akinsola

By Oluwashina Okeleji
BBC Sport

Kabiru Akinsola (centre, number 8) in action for the Golden Eaglets

Tunisian giants Etoile du Sahel have completed the signing of Nigeria's Kabiru Akinsola on professional terms.

The 18-year-old striker has put pen to paper on a five-year deal with the Sousse-based side.

Akinsola rose to prominence when he scored the winning goal in the final of the 2007 African youth championship in Togo.

He also featured for Nigeria at the Fifa under-17 World Cup in South Korea in 2007 and helped the country to their third world title.

"I am very happy about signing my first contract; it's a nice feeling to have something in writing," he told BBC Sport.

"I just want to get started now and play football on a professional level."

Akinsola has been on the radar of Etoile for some time and the Tunisian side pounced to beat off other interested clubs.

"They showed they wanted me more and I know I'm obviously doing something right.

"I know this is the beginning of good things to come," he said.

Etoile expects the Nigerian under-20 star to join the rest of the squad after the African youth championship in Rwanda, which ends on 1 February.

Etoile currently have another Nigerian striker on their books - Emeka Opara, who is in his second spell at the Sousse outfit after a failed stint in the German second division with Kaiserslautern.