Former AC Milan and Nigeria defender Taye Taiwo is keen to find a route back into top-level action despite 14 months of inaction.
His last game was in April 2014 for Turkey’s Buraspor, but his contract was ended a year later by mutual consent.
“I know I can still play for another top club and that’s why I’ve been training hard to stay fit,” the 30-year-old told BBC Sport.
“There are good possibilities in Italy, France and Netherlands so we’ll see.”
Taiwo’s biggest success came during a six-year stint with French side Marseille, his first European club which he joined in March 2005.
Taye Taiwo’s career: |
|
|---|---|
| 2003-2004: Gabros (youth player) | 2012: Queens Park Rangers (loan) |
| 2004: Lobi Stars (youth player) | 2012-2013: Dynamo Kiev (loan) |
| 2005-2011: Marseille | 2013-2015: Bursaspor |
| 2011-2013: Milan | |
Taiwo won the French Ligue 1 title in 2010; back-to-back French League Cup in 2010 and 2011 as well as the 2010 French Super Cup.
He made over 200 appearances for the club, scoring 21 goals before joining Italian giants AC Milan in 2011.
He struggled to establish himself in Italy and then spent six months on loan at QPR in 2012 before the move to Buraspor.
Taiwo made his debut for Nigeria in 2004 and played at the 2006, 2008 and 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.
But he won the last of his 59 caps for Nigeria in a 0-0 Nations Cup qualifier with Rwanda in February 2012.
The left-back says playing club football is his main goal rather than playing for the Super Eagles again.
“Even when I was playing regularly in Ukraine and Turkey I never got a chance with Nigeria,” he said.
“In football you have to arrange your priorities and my immediate target is to get back to club football.
“As a Nigerian I remain a big fan of my country and that will never change.”
Taiwo featured in the 2005 Fifa World Youth Championship where he was voted the third best player at the tournament in the Netherlands behind Lionel Messi and compatriot John Mikel Obi.
He also played for the Super Eagles at the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament in South Africa.
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