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Onome Ebi: Levante Las Palnas and Nigeria captain part ways by mutual consent
By Saheed Afolabi
Spanish side, Levante Las Planas have terminated the contract of Nigeria international, Onome Ebi who joined them in the summer as a free agent, NigeriaFootball.ng can exclusively report.
The Nigerian defender has been struggling for form since arriving, hence the club opted to let her go along with couple of players declared surplus to requirements in December 2022, sources informed NigeriaFootball.ng.
The Super Falcons captain signed for the topflight newcomers in September 2022 on a one-year deal at the age of 39 as she joined compatriot Rita Chikwelu at the club but unfortunately things did not go according plans.
During her short spell, Ebi endured a forgettable campaign as she only featured once for Levante Las Planas, with her only outing being a six-minute stint as a substitute against Asisat Oshoala’s Barcelona on November 3, 2022.
Before joining the Spanish club in September 2022, the centre-back had been clubless for almost 12 months since ending her third stint with Belarusian giants Minsk, after 19 appearances in November 2021.
Levante Las Planas was the 10th club for the veteran defender, who turns 40 in May following her stints in Sweden (Pitea IF and Djurgardens IF), Turkey (Atasehir Belediyespor FC, Duvenciler Lisesispor and Atasehir Belediyespor) and Belarus where her first stint with Minsk was between 2014 and 2016.
Despite the setback, the four-time Women’s Africa Cup of Nations winner will be resolve to make Nigeria’s party for the 2023 Women’s World Cup for an African record-extending sixth appearance in Austrailia/New Zealand in July.
Earlier, she missed the Super Falcons’ trips to United States’ Summer Series in September and friendly against Japan in October 2022 due to an injury picked from the 2022 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco.
Ahead of February’s camp in the North America, Ebi will hope to make a positive return to Randy Waldrum’s folds.