Terem Moffi at Hamburg: 7 Bundesliga records Super Eagles striker can break

Super Eagles striker Terem Moffi has completed a permanent transfer to Bundesliga club Hamburger SV from French Ligue 1 side OGC Nice, Soccernet.ng reports.

The Nigeria international will wear the No. 9 shirt and will look to help Hamburger avoid instant relegation following their promotion to the top flight a few months ago.

Moffi spent the second half of last season on loan at Porto, where he scored twice in 15 competitive appearances. At Nice, the 27-year-old striker scored 24 goals in 72 appearances after joining the French club in January 2023. He also has six goals in 23 senior games for Nigeria.

Hamburg will start their Bundesliga campaign away to Borussia Dortmund after their DFB Cup first-round game at Verl. Moffi now has a chance to write his name into several record books. Some targets are close. Others would need a remarkable scoring season. Here are seven records within his reach or possible long-term targets.

The first target is Taiwo Awoniyi’s Nigerian record of 15 Bundesliga goals in one season. The Union Berlin striker scored 15 times in 31 league games in 2021/22.

Moffi needs 16 goals to set a new record. That means scoring almost once every two league games across a full 34-match campaign. It is a difficult target, but his role as Hamburg’s new centre-forward gives him the platform.

Terem Moffi can also chase Jonathan Akpoborie’s career record. Akpoborie scored 61 Bundesliga goals in 144 appearances for Hansa Rostock, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg.

Moffi enters Germany with no Bundesliga goals, so this is a long-term target rather than a one-season challenge. He would need 62 goals to take the record. Akpoborie’s mark has stood through the careers of several Nigerian strikers, including Victor Boniface and Awoniyi.

The African single-season record is 31 goals. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored that many for Borussia Dortmund in 2016/17 after winning a thrilling scoring race. Nine years later, it still stands as the highest single-season total by an African player.

Moffi would need 32 goals to take the record. That would mean scoring in almost every Bundesliga match. It is an enormous target, but it gives the Nigerian a clear benchmark if he produces an exceptional campaign.

Aubameyang also owns the African career record with 98 Bundesliga goals. He scored those goals during his time with Dortmund and became one of the league’s most productive African forwards.

Terem Moffi would need 99 Bundesliga goals to move above him. This is a multi-season project. The striker would need sustained fitness and regular starts at Hamburg, followed by several productive seasons in Germany.

Uwe Seeler set Hamburg’s famous Bundesliga season record in 1963/64. He scored 30 goals in 30 league games and became the first Bundesliga top scorer. His 30-goal haul is still HSV’s single-season Bundesliga record.

Moffi needs 31 goals to take the mark. Seeler scored three hat-tricks and four braces during that historic campaign. Moffi’s physical style and ability to attack the penalty area give him the type of role needed to chase such a number, although the target is one of the hardest on this list.

Kevin Keegan provides another useful Hamburg benchmark. The England forward scored 17 Bundesliga goals in the 1978/79 season as Hamburg won the German title. HSV records also credit him with 16 assists that season, while his 17 goals were the most by an HSV player in that campaign.

Moffi needs 18 goals to beat Keegan’s 17-goal mark as a foreign HSV player in a Bundesliga season. It is a much more realistic first-season target than the 30-goal Seeler record.