Dundee United has signed goal scorer Sadat Anaku from Kampala Capital City Authority FC for the 2022/23 season.
The 21-year-old Ugandan forward was unveiled after penning a two-year contract at the Scottish club on Friday.
Sadat joins a Dundee United that’s struggling to score, bottom on the log, and yet to win a game by Game week four in the 2022/23 season.
Jack Ross, United Head Coach hopes Sadat can capitalize on his element of surprise and get off to a decent start, saying if he can hit the ground running and score quickly then things can fly from there.
The explosive striker impressed in the club friendlies against Leceister U21s and Arsenal U21s despite Dundee losing 1-4 to the latter.
His sharp exploit in position nine prompted Dundee United into a quick move to sign him until the Summer of 2024.
“I’ve been really impressed with Sadat since he came in. You have to have a certain mental toughness to come in from overseas and settle. Sadat has done that by leaving a really good impression on the players and staff at United.” Jack Ross told the club’s website at the unveiling.
Jack describes the young player as a really good finisher who will offer something different to the attacking options that the team already has, giving the squad a good balance.
“He has a real hunger and drive to try and succeed in European football and sees this as a real opportunity to do that. There’s an element of the unknown about him but we can see he has real potential. That element of unknown can help us. Defenders won’t know what he’s about and he’s not easy to play against from what I’ve seen in training.” He added
Sadat was part of the 22 players from Uganda selected by the government to showcase at a Spanish training camp through the Team Fundi project where he was spotted by United.
Following a pending work permit and international clearance delay, Anaku’s league debut for Dundee is likely to be against defender Bevis Mugabi’s Motherwell FC, next weekend on 3rd September.
Anaku joined the KCCA FC senior team in 2019 from the club’s Junior Team where he played since 2016, scoring 83 goals in 52 games, making him the all-time top scorer of the FUFA Juniors League.
For the senior team, Anaku scored 6 goals in 17 games in his first season (2019/20), 9 goals in 20 games in 2020/21 season and 7 goals in 23 games in the 2021/22 season.
He becomes the first player from KCCA FC to join a football club in Scotland but the third from Uganda to play in the Scottish Premier League after David Obua who played at the Heart of Midlothian Fc, Bevis Mugabi, a stronghold in the Motherwell FC defense and former Express Fc defender Enock Walusimbi, whose fate at Dundee still lays questionable.
Dundee has won the Scottish Premier Divison only once in 1982/83, the Scottish Cup twice in 1994 and 2010, and the Scottish League Cup twice in 1979 and 1980.
They reached the European Cup semifinal in 1983/84 and the UEFA Cup final in 1987.
