Miya agent hopes midfielder will get playing time at Sabail

Kampala.

When Farouk Miya left Vipers for Standard Liège in early 2016, there was hope the Ugandan midfielder would scale the heights in Europe.
After all, his scoring prowess had led Vipers to their second Uganda Premier League title as well as Cranes’ success at the Cecafa Championship in 2015.
He began well at Liège, playing four matches in the second half of that season and even scored in the 4-1 win over Royal Excel Mouscron on April 22, 2016 before the $400,000 (about Shs1.3b then) move fully materialized.
But since, his progress seems to have stalled at the Belgium club.
Miya, who netted Uganda’s only goal at the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon, has hardly kicked a ball in the first round of the current Belgian Pro League
This has consequently forced his representative Nicolas Onissé to step in. After solving documentation and visa matters, the Ugandan midfielder was unveiled at Sabail FC in the Azerbaijan Premier League on a loan move until the end of the season, with no option to buy on Thursday.
“I explained to Liège that Miya had to play until the end of the season otherwise, we would have problems this summer to transfer him,” Onissé told Daily Monitor about Miya’s move to Baku in a telephone interview at the weekend.
“They listened to me, they heard and helped me build this loan in Sabail and we thank them,” said the CEO of Sportback Group, a team of agents also handling Ugandan striker Yunus Ssentamu at KF Tirana in Albania.
It is not the first time Miya has been loaned out. Last year, Liège lent out the player to Mouscron but he still hardly got playing time. “Last year, we wanted Waasland Beveren and Standard Liege wanted Mouscron so the employer had the final decision,” Onissé explained.
“This time it was Miya’s decision and we Sportback Group (agents). If Miya plays eight games, we will be successful because he will show up and we can easily find a nice project next summer.”
Sabail, formed in 2016, is sixth on the eight-team log in Azerbaijan. However, Daily Monitor understands there were other offers for Miya.
“If Standard had been a little more responsive in the first week of January, I could have lent Miya in the Greek first division at Platanias FC. Raja Casablanca sent a loan request in mid-January to Standard that we declined.”
Further, there were also advanced talks with two Russian Premier League clubs FC Ural and Rubin Kazan as well as Dunajská Streda in Slovakia but Miya had not had enough matches in the first part of the season.
Miya’s troubles at Liège began when coach Yannick Ferrera was sacked on September 2, 2016, switching with Serbian Aleksandar Janković from Mechelen.
There is also a perception that the sale of Adrien Trebel to Liège’s rival club Anderlecht by Onissé could have played part in Miya’s downward spiral at the club.
“Everyone has the right to think what he wants. His Standard teammates with whom I speak tell me that he is always in the best shape or the best in training... (So) why doesn’t he play?”
“Miya will succeed at the highest level because he is a fantastic, honest and upright man with human values that few people have.
“The two-and-a-half years at Standard Liège are part of his career and have made him stronger. He deserves the best and will have the best.”