Ernest Nuamah Joins Lyon, But His Next Destination Is Already Visible
Ernest Nuamah, we knew, was not going to stay very long at Nordsjaelland.
For the last 18 months or so, the 19-year-old forward has been billed as one of the most exciting things to come out of Scandinavian football — certainly the outstanding talent in Denmark’s Superliga, which he has set alight in the colours of Europe’s most youthful side.
The latest in the ranks of prodigious footballers off the Nordsjaelland production line — fed primarily by the Right to Dream Academy in Ghana — Nuamah has set the Danish top-flight alight with his dazzling skill and impressive attacking output.
Having scored just once in nine games during his first season (2021/22) after leaving his native Ghana, Nuamah exploded last term with 15 goals in 34 outings that almost propelled Nordsjaelland back to the Uefa Champions League for the first time in a decade.
For his brilliance, Nuamah was named the league’s Player of the Year and Young Player of the Year for 2022/23. Following a summer during which he made his senior Ghana debut, Nuamah picked up where he left off last term, netting five times for Nordsjaelland in the first six games of the season.
Those impressive numbers and the accompanying performances meant the big European clubs admiring Nuamah just couldn’t wait anymore, and quite a few of them sought to test the waters. Clubs like AC Milan — who have focused on infusing their squad with a lot of exciting youth this window — cast covetous glances and pondered approaches, but it was eventually Olympique Lyon, preparing for a first season after the Jean-Michel Aulas era, that has managed to prise him away from Nordsjaelland this week.
The suddenness of the move certainly caught many off-guard, but what many observers have found surprising, too, is how Lyon — stealing a march on some of their domestic rivals, like Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Marseille — managed to put together a package that helped them afford Nuamah despite their obvious financial constraints.
Lyon, following the takeover of the club by American John Textor, has seen its activity in the transfer market scrutinised by French football’s financial watchdog, raising legitimate concerns about Les Gones' ability to undertake the recruitment required to improve on their disappointing seventh-place finish in Ligue 1 last season.
Two of the six players whose arrival at the Groupama Stadium this summer preceded Nuamah’s joined as free agents, another was secured on loan, and neither of the two the club actually bought set Lyon back more than €5 million. For Nuamah, though, Lyon had to get creative to meet Nordsjaelland demands, taking him initially on a year’s loan via Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek, another club Textor has in his business portfolio.
The €25m fee paid to sign Nuamah takes him comfortably past fellow Right to Dream/Nordsjaelland/Ghana starlet Kamaldeen Sulemana as Danish football’s record sale. Sulemana’s own destination, when he left the Tigers in 2021, was incidentally France, where he joined Rennes at around the same age and with a similar record (a goal/assist roughly every other game).
It could be argued, though, that Nuamah departs Nordsjaelland a better player than Sulemana was. He is a lot more versatile —having played at least 11 games (from a total of 49) across the front-line, though proving most productive/effective from the right flank — and better-rounded as an attacker.
Sulemana didn’t have the easiest of times at Rennes, mainly due to injury trouble that also affected his form, and if Nuamah is able to stay largely free of all that, he should be able to make more of an impact. That would open the door for his next move, one that — given where the brightest and best from Nordsjaelland in recent years have ended up (or are ending up) — could lead him to England.
Sulemana joined Southampton in the Premier League earlier this year, before the Saints were relegated to the Championship. Simon Adingra was snapped up directly by Brighton & Hove Albion in 2022 and has now broken into Roberto De Zerbi’s first team after a fruitful loan spell at sister club Union SG. Mikkel Damsgaard, via a stint at Sampdoria, is now at Brentford. Then there is Mohammed Kudus, who has starred for Ajax Amsterdam since 2020, now close to signing for West Ham United.
Speaking of West Ham, Nuamah has already drawn Premier League interest, with the Hammers reportedly sending a bid earlier this summer, while London neighbours Tottenham Hotspur are also rumoured to have put out feelers. A successful spell with Lyon would almost certainly firm up such interest and see Nuamah on his way across the Channel.
Textor holds a 40% ownership stake in Crystal Palace (from whom he’s brought Irish defender Jack O’Brien this summer), and it’s not entirely inconceivable that Nuamah ends up at Selhurst Park if all goes to plan; Lyon wouldn’t mind selling him off to another Premier League club for the right price, though, would they?
Laurent Blanc’s side, however, would be banking on not just what Nuamah can provide in the future — a high sell-on value, namely — but also what he offers in the present, where they find themselves bottom of the Ligue 1 table just two games into the current campaign. Hopefully, he’d have the transformative effect his new employers anticipate, before going on to have the future he clearly looks built for.
Writer: Enn Y. Frimpong
