Olunga continues to impress potential suitors

After scoring another goal against Gamba Osaka in Kashiwa Reysol 3-0's win on Wednesday, Kenyan striker Michael Olunga's future continues to be the subject of debate.

It was his 15th goal of the season, pulling him six clear of his nearest rivals in the race for the Golden Boot in the Japanese top flight league.

Olunga opened the scoring on two minutes and Ataru Esaka's double completed the rout at the Sankyo Frontier Stadium in Kashiwa. The result moved Kashiwa to third on the log with 26 points having played 15 matches. Speculation does not look to stop anytime soon especially if he keeps on banging in the goals.

There have been talks of an imminent move. Indian Super League side East Bengal, Spanish second-tier side Real Zaragoza and Lens from France have been rumored to be interested in landing the signature of the lanky forward.

He has however always remained coy on his next destination.

"I will keep scoring the goals and wait to see what happens next. In football you are never sure," he said in a recent interview.

"We wanted to start strongly and I am happy to have scored early as we became stronger going forward. We have quality players and it makes it easier. Defensively we also did well and played according to the coach's instructions," Olunga said in the post-match interview.

"I have been working hard and I am happy to be the top scorer so far. However, this is not possible without my teammates and everyone at the club so I want to thank them," he added.

Olunga scored eight goals on the final day of the Japanese second-tier to finish last season as the second-highest scorer with 27 goals.

Olunga, who honed his skills at Liberty Sports Academy, moved to Kenyan Premier League (KPL) side Tusker FC in 2013. Playtime was hard to get for the then budding youngster, who scored just three goals in 15 appearances. He then moved to the now-defunct Thika United on loan and it is here that his talent started showing.

After banging nine goals in 26 appearances for Thika United, Gor Mahia came calling and Olunga announced himself to the world by scoring 19 goals in 26 matches.

He would then make the big leap to Europe by joining Swedish side IF Djugardens where he quickly settled and continued with his goalscoring exploits - finding the back of the net 12 times in 27 league appearances.

In 2017, Olunga signed for Chinese side Guizhou Zhicheng, a move many pundits believe was a wrong career choice for a young player who was on the rise.

He scored just two goals in nine games and was on the move again, joining Spanish side Girona on loan. He was sparingly used at the club, but scored three goals in 14 matches, before returning East this time to Japan to join Kashiwa Reysol in 2018.

He has so far scored over 50 goals for Kashiwa Reysol over two years and it is now just a question of when, and not if he will move.