Oxford United’s latest signing has paid off almost immediately after joining the club.
The U’s completed a deal to sign Marselino Ferdinan on Monday afternoon.
The 19-year-old forward joined on a free transfer after spending last season with Belgian second-tier side KMSK Deinze.
As it turns out, Oxford haven’t just got themselves a promising talent on the pitch, but someone who is already turning into their marketing department’s dream.
Ferdinan, who hails from Indonesia, is one of the hottest prospects in Asia at the moment and has an immense social media following to boot – boasting 4million followers on Instagram alone.
By comparison, Oxford United have just 161,000 followers, meaning that their new signing has almost 25 times as many fans as the newly-promoted Championship side.
Of those 161,000 followers that Oxford hold, 25,000 of them came in the three hours that followed the official announcement of the teenage sensation.
Signing Dutch right back Hidde ter Avest on the same day, Oxford’s announcement post for Ter Avest attracted 8700 likes – Ferdinan, however, attracted 333,000.
On X, formerly known as Twitter, Ter Avest’s signing announcement attracted 39,000 impressions while the Indonesian wonderkid’s arrival attracted a whopping 1.2million impressions.
Ferdinan could be the first Indonesian player to ever play in the Championship if he’s selected by Oxford this season.
Speaking after signing, Ferdinan said: “I’m thrilled and still can’t believe I’m here. Being the first Indonesian-born player to play in the Championship if selected fills me with immense pride. I won’t take this opportunity for granted, and I’ll give 100% to make the most of it.
“My message to everyone is to keep supporting the team and know that I’ll do my best to compete and represent this club.”
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Oxford’s head coach, Des Buckingham said: “Marselino is a young exciting player.
“The games we have watched and reports of him from Asia are that he is one of the best young players coming through, so it’s an opportunity to have him in here and be a part of what we do.
“Having worked in Asia already, I know the depth of potential talent that can be unearthed there and I am looking forward to having him in the building to see how he progresses.
“Marselino has lots of attributes that we look for in a player and a person and we can see he has a real desire to want to improve and take this opportunity.”
Ferdinan could make his Oxford debut when they travel to face Blackburn Rovers on Saturday afternoon.