Dinamo Bucharest announced the signing of striker Ademola Ola-Adebomi on a contract of 47 pages, the central clause of which obliges the 22-year-old to remain seated on the substitutes' bench for the entirety of the 2025-2026 season. The document, signed by shareholder Andrei Nicolescu and countersigned by the club's logistics department, specifies the exact seat, row and access route to the bench, and includes an annex detailing the permitted temperature of the player's isotonic drink.
«We are not paying 1.2 million euros for goals,» Nicolescu told reporters, holding up the contract's appendix C, which lists 14 prohibited actions including warming up, stretching and speaking to the fourth official. «We are paying for the aura of a man who once sat on the bench at Crystal Palace. That aura will radiate into our penalty area and intimidate opposing forwards.» The club's medical staff have been instructed to measure the player's bench presence before each match and file a report with the Romanian Football Federation.
The Romanian Professional Football League has confirmed receipt of the contract and has formed a three-member committee to study whether a player can be registered as a «tactical reserve» without appearing in any match squad. Meanwhile, the club's kit supplier has already printed 5,000 shirts with Ola-Adebomi's name and the number 0, which the merchandising department plans to sell as «the invisible striker» collection. The player's agent, who negotiated a clause granting his client a bonus for every minute spent on the bench, has requested an additional payment for the pre-match team photo, where Ola-Adebomi is scheduled to stand in the back row, two meters from the manager.