Last season, Gift Orban exploded onto the scene in Belgium and Europe. The young Nigerian striker left Norway and was an instant success for Gent, scoring a hatful of goals in both the Pro League and the Europa Conference League. Over the summer there was strong interest from plenty of European clubs, such as Lille, Burney and Tottenham. However, Gent wanted €30m and neither side were willing to spend that. Hence, Orban remained in Belgium. While he had stated he would love to move to a bigger club, the player at the time had said he would still give his all for Gent.
Yet a few months into the season and Orban is cutting a frustrated figure. During Gent’s 1-1 draw with league leaders Union St Gilloise at the weekend, the striker was only given six minutes to make an impact. Following the game, he was seen taking his anger out on a bottle. It appears that he has fallen out of favour with head coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck, who wants to see more of an all round game from Orban outside of scoring. Perhaps this is because his league numbers are down compared to last year, with three goals in 12 matches. Of these 12 he has only started six.
Despite this apparent slump, his overall Gent numbers are still off the scale. In 42 games he has scored 31 goals. One worry for Gent is now that price tag will certainly be dropping if he remains on the bench. Many fans will be wondering if the club made a mistake not selling the striker in the summer. Hopefully the 21-year-old will bounce back and be back to his best by the end of the season, as it is highly unlikely Gent will get anything near the €30m they wanted in the summer during the upcoming winter transfer window.
