Bengaluru FC have signed 25-year-old Spanish winger Nili for the rest of the season as a replacement for Manuel Onwu. The Spanish forward Onwu has been sent out on loan to accommodate the move and replace Odisha FC‘s forward Aridane Santana who has been ruled out for the rest of the ISL.
With the summer signing Raphael Augusto still recovering from an injury, the defending champions needed to strengthen their attacking depth going into the fag end of the season. The signing of Nili is the second signing in the January transfer window – it follows Jamaican striker Deshorn Brown who joined the Blues a few weeks ago.
Francisco José Perdomo Borges commonly knows as Nili was at the youth academy of Spanish Segunda División club UD Las Palmas for a number of years before turning up for the reserve side in 2013. He joined the senior side in the 2015-16 season which was followed by a season with Barcelona B. Over the course of his career which was mostly spent in Spain, Nili played in the La Liga, the Segunda División and the Segunda División B.
Nili joins BFC on a free transfer from Greek club Platanias FC who he helped win promotion in 2018-19 to the second tier – the Super League Greece 2. In the 2019-20 season, the winger contributed with three goals and two assists from eight games in the Super League 2.
He is a young player with a lot of potential who has come to try to help us to achieve the objectives at a crucial moment of the season.
We both share same roots as he also has been playing in La Masia, and even playing with the Barça first team for some games.
Carles Cuadrat, Head Coach, Bengaluru FC
To make way for Nili, the Blues have sent out misfiring striker Manuel Onwu on loan to Odisha FC. Odisha were dealt with a body blow when their star striker and the league’s second highest scorer Aridane Santana was ruled out for the season.
Santana has been a major part of Odisha’s resurgence in the ISL this season and has scored nine goals and assisted two from 14 matches.
It remains to be seen if Onwu can fill in considering he did not score a goal for BFC in his five appearances.
One Comment