Player Spotlight: Rafiu Durosinmi and Riyad Mahrez

Today’s player spotlights shine a light on some of football’s most exciting talents. Here’s everything you need to know.

Rafiu Durosinmi

Super Eagles striker linked with Trabzonspor exit after tough debut season in Italy

Pisa | Forward | Nigerian

Key stat: One goal and one assist in 12 Serie A appearances before Pisa’s relegation to Serie B

Durosinmi joined Pisa from Czech side Viktoria Plzen for around 11 million euros in January but never found his footing as the club slipped out of Serie A.

Pisa are now said to be willing to accept 8 to 10 million euros for the 23-year-old despite his 18 million euro release clause, with Turkish side Trabzonspor leading the chase.

The 1.92m forward remains highly rated despite the difficult spell, having impressed for Nigeria’s junior national teams before his move to Europe.

“Pisa are ready to lower their asking price for the Nigerian forward despite interest continuing to grow. — AllNigeriaSoccer”

— Rafiu Durosinmi

Riyad Mahrez

Algeria captain scores brace to send Desert Foxes into World Cup Round of 32

Algeria | Winger | Algerian

Key stat: Only the second Algerian player ever to score a brace at a FIFA World Cup, after Salah Assad in 1982

Mahrez, 35, struck twice and added an assist in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Austria to secure Algeria’s place among the best third-placed teams in the group stage.

Playing what he has confirmed will be his final major tournament for Algeria, the former Manchester City winger has ignored Saudi transfer speculation to focus fully on the World Cup.

Algeria now face Switzerland in the Round of 32, a side they have never beaten at senior international level.

“Absolutely over the moon. This is one of the great nights of my Algeria career. — Riyad Mahrez”

— Riyad Mahrez

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