Posted by The Guardian on
Super Eagles' striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni's bid to join Middlesborough officially today suffered a temporary set back as the Home Office had his application for a work permit rejected.
Super Eagles' striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni's bid to join Middlesborough officially today suffered a temporary set back as the Home Office had his application for a work permit rejected. The Guardian had reported yesterday that Aiyegbeni's application may be rejected.
The failure was expected as the 22-year-old has not played the required 75 per cent of international games for Nigeria in the last two years.
Boro has been preparing for an appeal against that automatic decision, and that will be heard on Monday.
The club has argued its case successfully with Alen Boksic and Juninho in recent years.
Aiyegbeni is due to formally complete his £7.5 million move to the Riverside Stadium from Portsmouth's today.
He fell out with the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) when he was alleged to have broken a curfew while on international duty.
Boro is confident that his performances for Pompey since his arrival from Maccabi Haifa in January 2003 have established his quality and state his own case.