Jamshedpur FC rope in Nigerian defender Eze

Nigerian defender Stephen Eze on Thursday signed up with Jamshedpur FC ahead of the upcoming season of the Indian Super League to be held in November. He became Jamshedpur FC's sixth foreign signing and the second foreign centre-back along with the recently announced Peter Hartley.

An imposing six feet six inches, the right footed Eze said: "There have been some exciting signings with the club in the past few weeks and I look forward to work with my teammates and end the season with silverware." Having made his debut in 2016, the 26-year-old has made 13 appearances for Nigeria and in May 2018, he was named in Nigeria’s preliminary 30-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia but did not make it to the final 23. His Super Eagles side finished runners up in the African Nations Championship in 2018 with Eze playing all six games.

The defender has been playing with Lokomotiv Plovidiv in the Bulgarian top division for the past three seasons and comes off the back of a runner up finish in the 2019-20 football season. He won the Bulgarian Cup in the 2018-19 season with Lokomotiv and represented them in the Europa League 2019-20 in four games. Head coach Owen Coyle said Eze will be crucial in making their defence mean and miserly.

"He comes with a solid reputation and representing a World Cup playing nation like Nigeria requires some serious talent. His towering personality and unyielding attitude towards the game could make him one of the best center-backs in the ISL," Coyle said in the club's official website. "Eze's presence in the dressing room will be absolutely uplifting for the squad. He is an outstanding young man and a real team player with a huge future for him domestically as well as internationally." Eze will be wearing number 66 for the upcoming ISL season.