KAA Gent striker Gift Orban should take his time before making a move to the Premier League amid links with Leeds United and Leicester City, Belgium U19 coach Wesley Sonck tells Sporza.
In the space of just three minutes last week, Orban almost single-handedly fired Gent into the quarter-finals of the Conference League; a clash with West Ham United now looming on the horizon.
No player in the history of UEFA competition had ever scored a hat-trick within 180 seconds. That was, however, until Orban touched down in Turkey. That record-breaking treble during a 4-1 thumping of Istanbul Basaksehir scribing his hitherto little-known name into the history books.
Orban, who joined Gent as recently as January following a prolific spell at Norwegian outfit Staebek, has made no secret of his desire to join a Premier League club sooner rather than later; TEAMtalk mentioning Leeds and Leicester as potential destinations.
Sonck, however, points out that patience is indeed a virtue for a 20-year-old who was plying his trade back home in Nigeria as recently as 2022.
Will Leeds United or Leicester City make a move for Gent’ Gift Orban?
“I think it’s great that he is so ambitious,” says the former Belgium international. “He is also fast, he adapts well. I must also admit that he easily scores goal. He is often in the right place.
“But the Premier League or the Bundesliga? That is still a few steps higher. Even with teams like Borussia Monchengladbach or Eintracht Frankfurt you have guys like (Marcus) Thuram and (Randal) Kolo-Muani in front of you.
“They are still on a different level.”
Orban has scored 12 goals in just nine Jupiler League and Conference League starts at Gent. Comparisons are starting to be drawn with another man who boasts a goals-per-game ratio which borders on the absurd; Manchester City talisman Erling Haaland.
“He is a sensation. Really,” Gent coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck beams (Voetbal International). “When he scored the second one (vs Istanbul Basaksehir) from 20 metres into the net, I really thought; ‘Wow, what a phenomenon’.”
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