Simy Nwankwo: Can He Sustain Salernitana at Topflight?

One characteristics of promoted teams to topflight in big leagues is not being able to stay at the top. Statistics have shown that two out of three promoted teams got relegated. Last season, Super Eagles striker, Simy Nwankwo could not save Crotone from being relegated to Serie B despite scoring 20 goals – the fifth highest in the league. Having joined another newly promoted team- Salernitana, will he be able to help them remain at the top flight?

After being linked with several Serie A sides, Nigerian international, Simy Nwankwo finally pitched tent with Serie A newboys- Salernitana.

With 20 goals to his name which made him the fifth -highest goalscorer in the 20/21 Serie A season, Nwankwo, still could not save Crotone from relegation.
The big question on the lips of observers is whether Simy would help newly-promoted Salernitana stay in Serie A.

Nwankwo scored 20 goals last season but it was not enough to help Crotone stave off relegation. Football Italia reports that the 29-year-old has moved to Salernitana for “€6m, including bonuses and add-ons.”

Simy joined Crotone in 2016 and left after 66 goals in 159 competitive appearances, making him the club’s all-time top scorer.
He is now the second Nigerian international to sign for the team this summer, after Joel Obi.
Before his move to Salernitana, the 28-year-old was rumoured to be on the wishlist of Spanish side Real Mallorca and another Serie A new comers Venezia.

When it was confirmed that Crotone had been relegated from Serie A, former Nigerian midfielder Henry Nwosu had advised the Super Eagles forward to move to a club where his goal prowess would be of great value.
It was a disappointing return for Crotone, who could manage only five wins in 34 Serie A games with Simy playing a big role in all of those wins.

“Simy Nwankwo has shown to be a quality striker in the Serie A where his goal-scoring prowess has been fantastic. He’s deadly in front of goal any time he finds himself in the 18-yard box,” former Nigerian international, Henry Nwosu said.

“It is so sad that his club, Crotone, has been relegated after losing to Inter Milan, but that is not the end of the world for him. Every club will definitely want to sign a player like Simy because he knows how to deliver the goals.

“I will advise him to move to a better club in Spain, England, and Italy where his impact can be felt in the Super Eagles.”
Before now he had dismissed concern about his future at Crotone saying: “I do not know. For now I’m in a place where I feel good and people love me, the transfer market doesn’t interest me,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport when he was asked about his future.

Crotone’s Sporting Director was however optimistic that the striker will certainly be sold.
“Simy has requests from Serie A, but above all from the Bundesliga. Many Serie A teams have requested for him, and he will certainly be sold. Simy is on the market because he is in great demand,” Crotone’s Sporting Director Beppe Ursino told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport earlier in June.

Salernitana was always leading the Serie A race for the Nigerian ahead of Lazio, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, Genoa and Monza.
There are also French and Belgian clubs interested in the Super Eagle, whose contract with Crotone ends in 2022.

Only Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku, Luis Muriel and Dusan Viahovic scored more league goals in Italy than the Nigerian international.
Nwankwo also broke and surpassed the record as the highest Nigerian scorer in a single Serie A season.
Simy is coming off an excellent campaign in Serie A.
The Super Eagles striker’s 20 goals for Crotone tied him with Lazio’s Ciro Immobile as the joint-fifth on the Serie A goalscorer’s chart.

In doing so, the 29-year-old became the Nigerian to have scored the most goals in a single campaign in Europe’s top five leagues, overtaking Yakubu Aiyegbeni’s previous record of 17.
Simy also eclipsed former Inter Milan star, Obafemi Martins as the highest scoring Nigerian in the Serie A.

Martins scored 28 times in 88 matches for Inter Milan, but Simy ended with 30 goals, all in the colours of Crotone.
Asked when was the first time he kicked a football, Simy said: “I was little, I was maybe four years old. I started playing at home, outside, everywhere. Every time. I always wanted the ball between my feet. My father said I was sick from this game. It didn’t take much to give birth to my passion, or rather obsession, for football.”

The gangling striker was a member of the Super Eagles team to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia though he saw only three minutes of action throughout the three group stage matches. He won the first of his four caps for Nigeria against DR Congo in 2018 but he has not played for Nigeria since August 2018