Most Talked About Nigerian Players In European Football And Why

BY HOPE EJAIRU

Of course, there are many Nigerian-born footballers plying their trade in Europe, but 20-year old Samuel Chimerenka Chukwueze is the first on my list.

Born in Umuahia, Nigeria, he has made eight appearances for the Yellow Submarines, Villarreal this season in the La-Liga, scoring two goals.

He was among the 50 young players to watch out for in 2019/2020 season by UEFA. In April 2019, he won the Nigeria Football Federation’s 2018 Young Player of the Year Award.

In May 2019, Samuel Chukwueze was invited to be part of Nigeria’s senior team at the Africa Cup of Nations hosted in Egypt.

He scored his first senior goal in Nigeria’s 2-1 win over South Africa in the quarter-finals and went ahead to win the bronze medal with his teammates. He has scored 2 goals in 12 appearances for Nigeria in the year in review.

His statistics for club and country might not be overwhelming but he has showed moments of brilliance in games that got football pundits and fans talking, not forgetting the top clubs in Europe that has shown interest in his services.

Samuel Chukwueze

Second on my list is Leicester City’s Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi; he is 23 years of age.

He has made 13 appearances for Nigeria in the year 2019 and was part of the team that represented Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. He was instrumental and key to Nigeria’s good outing in the championship leading to that third place win.

His contributions and impact in his club side also cannot be undermined and overemphasized. He has shielded Caglar Soyuncu and Jonny Evans which made Leicester City concede less goals this season.

As a matter of fact, they are the side with the least number of goals conceded this season. The good run of form of Leicester City under Brendan Rodgers cannot be talked about with mentioning Wilfred Ndidi. He referred to as the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League and one of the best in the world. It is no mean fit that Arsenal’s newly appointed manager Mike Arteta is a huge fan of him and would like to have him at the Emirates.

Onyinye Wilfred Ndidi

The last on my list is Victor James Osimhen who was born on 29 December 1998. In July 2019, he signed for Lille OSC. He made his Ligue 1 debut for Lille OSC against Nantes scoring a brace. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Lille. In October 2019, he won the Player of the Month for Ligue 1.

He has played 18 matches in Ligue 1 for Lille this season and scored 10 goals. He has had 5 appearances in UEFA Champions League scoring 2 goals and 1 appearance in Coupe de France scoring 1 goal to make it 13 goals scored in all competitions this season.

He missed out on Nigeria’s 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign after his inconsistent run of form at Wolfsburg. Following a bright start to his loan spell at Charleroi, he was recalled by Gernot Rohr for the November 2018 international break starting their friendly win against Uganda.

In March 2019, Osimhen was released from the Super Eagles squad to represent the Nigerian U-23 side as they were two goals down against Libya.

He scored three goals in the return fixture against Libya at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba. He was listed in coach Gernot Rohr’s 25-man provisional list for 2019 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Egypt and was further listed in the final list for the tournament.

Though he did not get enough playing times due to the presence of Odion Ighalo who was Gernot Rohr’s first choice striker but he got to replace Ighalo half-way in the teams 1 nil victory over Tunisia.

He played a total of 45 minutes at the tournament and he has played 7 matches for Nigeria in 2019 scoring 4 goals. His excellent run of form this season has been noticed after it was reported that Manchester United and other clubs are interested in his services. Hopefully these 3 players would continue to improve and even become better players before the end of this season.