Chinedu Ogbuke "Edu" Obasi (born 1 June 1986) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a forward.
Club career
Lyn
Born in Enugu, Nigeria, Obasi started his football career at River Lane Youth Club Enugu and JC Raiders in his homeland country. Obasi went to Norway at the same time as his countryman Mikel John Obi; both players joined Lyn. It was disputed that Obasi signed for Lyn in 2004, but this was rejected by FIFA which ordered both Obasi and Ezekiel Bala returned to Lyn with immediate effect.
Obasi made his Lyn debut, in the opening game of the season, where he played 66 minutes, in a 1–1 draw against Fredrikstad. However, Obasi struggled to regain a place in the first team and it wasn't until on 25 September 2005 when he scored his first Lyn goal, in a 1–0 win over Brann. Despite this, Obasi made five appearances in his first season.
In the 2006 season, Obasi didn't play for the side at the start of the season due to an ongoing dispute with his own club. On 2 July 2006, he made his first appearance of the season in a 2–1 win over Fredrikstad. Obasi then scored his first goal for the club on 6 August 2006, in a 2–0 win over Molde, followed up by scoring twice in the next game, with a 3–2 loss against Stabæk. Despite suffering from injuries during the season, Obasi finished his second season making fifteen appearances and scoring eight times in all competitions. For his performance, Obasi was named Young Player of the Year.
On 20 December 2006, a transfer deal was announced with Russian side Lokomotiv Moscow, and Obasi was set to move to the Russian side in January. The deal was derailed, however, when the president, sporting director and manager of Lokomotiv were all fired six days later. Several days after he trained with Premier League side Portsmouth, Obasi signed a contract with Lyn, keeping him until 2008. By the time of his departure from Lyn, Obasi had made eleven appearances and five goals in all competitions.
Throughout his Lyn career, Obasi was linked with moves to European clubs, such as Wigan Athletic, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona. Despite pleads from then Manager Henning Berg, the club expected to see Obasi leave the club in the summer, as German side 1899 Hoffenheim closed on signing him.
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
On 27 August 2007, Obasi moved to 2. Bundesliga side Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee.
Obasi quickly made an impact for Hoffenheim when he scored twice on his debut despite losing 3–2 against Freiburg. After missing the next game, Obasi returned to the first team, where he set up one of the goals, in a 2–0 win over Paderborn. After returning, Obasi continued to appear in the first team and scored five times in five months. In a match against Paderborn on 9 March 2008, which saw Hoffenheim win 1–0, Obasi was sent-off in the 54th minute when he was involved in an incident with opposition midfielder Erwin Koen. After the match, Obasi claimed that Koen racially abused him, which led to his sending off, a claim Koen denied and even thought about taking legal action against Obasi. In the end, the DFB's control committee decided against taking action against Koen, citing lack of evidence and Obasi served a three match suspension. Following his return from suspension, Obasi scored four more goals later in the season and helped the club reach promotion to Bundesliga for the first time. Obasi finished his first season at the club, making thirty appearances and scoring twelve times in all competitions. This made him the club's joint top-scorer in the league, along with Demba Ba.
Ahead of the 2008–09 season, Obasi was linked with a move to England, but eventually stayed at the club throughout the summer. However, at the start of the season, Obasi missed out several matches, due to injury and international commitment. Obasi made his first appearance of the season on 13 September 2008 against Stuttgart, where he played 30 minutes, in a 0–0 draw. Despite suffering from injury in training soon after, Obasi then scored his first goal of the season in a 5–2 win over Hannover 96 on 18 October 2008, followed up by scoring twice, in a 3–0 win over Hamburg in the next game. Throughout the 2008–09 season, Obasi suffered a setback when he was plagued by injuries. Nevertheless, Obasi finished the season, making twenty–six appearances and scoring six times in all competitions.