When it comes to Super Eagles stars making headlines, they tend to revolve around world-class striker Victor Osimhen. This season, after being unceremoniously booted from Serie A contenders Napoli, he’s been blazing ahead with Galatasaray. In fact, by his 29th appearance, he’d already scored 23 goals. Osimhen will have some big decisions to make when the Turkish Süper Lig concludes, with the striker likely having another winners’ medal to his name.
In the meantime, other Nigerians have proven to be key cogs in teams that are gunning for surprisingly strong seasons – even team-best seasons in some cases. These are those players.
Turning Relegation Candidates into a UCL Team
Under Nuno Espírito Santo and a couple of seasons of mass trial-and-error transfer market moves, Nottingham Forest have suddenly vaulted from near-relegation in the Premier League to third in the table. With tactics that rely heavily on soaking up pressure and counter-attacking at speed, right-back Ola Aina has been critical to the effort.
The 28-year-old has been immaculate, and in the stat line of winning the ball back in defensive areas, the Nottingham Forest defender leads the way in Europe. His tally trumps all other players on the continent by at least 13, while he’s also kept up a cool 93 percent pass accuracy despite being on the field for well over 2,400 minutes as of March 13.
Bundle in his two goals and assist, his great discipline record of just two yellow cards in 29 games, his 1.9 tackles per game, 2.8 clearances, and 1.1 interceptions, and it’s clear to see how important he’s been. The team’s success has been built on defense, and Aina has been the team’s most reliable player along the backline.
With ten games to go at the 28-mark, as of March 13, Aina has helped to bring Forest to +110 in the Premier League odds to finish in the top four. At the time, Forest were only four points back of Arsenal in second and two up on Chelsea (-138) in fourth, with Manchester City (-200) four behind them after losing their last meet on March 8.
In the Close Race for Serie As, Nottingham Forest have suddenly vaulted from near-relegation in the Premier League to third in the table. With tactics that rely heavily on soaking up pressure and counter-attacking at speed, right-back Ola Aina has been critical to the effort.
The 28-year-old has been immaculate, and in the stat line of winning the ball back in defensive areas, the Nottingham Forest defender leads the way in Europe. His tally trumps all other players on the continent by at least 13, while he’s also kept up a cool 93 percent pass accuracy despite being on the field for well over 2,400 minutes as of March 13.
Bundle in his two goals and assist, his great discipline record of just two yellow cards in 29 games, his 1.9 tackles per game, 2.8 clearances, and 1.1 interceptions, and it’s clear to see how important he’s been. The team’s success has been built on defense, and Aina has been the team’s most reliable player along the backline.
With ten games to go at the 28-mark, as of March 13, Aina has helped to bring Forest to +110 in the Premier League odds to finish in the top four. At the time, Forest were only four points back of Arsenal in second and two up on Chelsea (-138) in fourth, with Manchester City (-200) four behind them after losing their last meet on March 8.
In the Close Race for Serie A
The PotY Award winner at the CAF Awards in 2024, Ademola Lookman, has continued to be next-to-unstoppable in Serie A this season, with Lookman using his pace and knack for getting into scoring positions to assist Atalanta in their run at the Serie A title.
Through his first 22 league games of the season, Lookman put away 13 goals and five assists. He’s also been stellar in the UEFA Champions League, scoring five goals and setting up two more to average 1.0 goal contributions per game.
However, he has not been exempt from criticism. Atalanta Gian Piero Gasperini said, on February 18, that Lookman was “one of the worst penalty takers [he] has ever seen,” after his miss against Club Brugge. Lookman turned the criticism into fuel, scoring two goals in his next Serie A game and getting in on the 4-0 rout of Juventus on March 9.
Towering Striker Usurping the Belgian Hierarchy
In Belgium’s top division, the Jupiler Pro League, Club Brugge have effectively had a stranglehold on the title for the last five seasons. Only once since the 2019/20 season have they failed to take the crown, and in 2022/23, that was because they had to chop and change managers multiple times and essentially capitulated, finishing fourth.
That season, Genk went on to top the table but ultimately lost to Antwerp in Play-off I. Now, after Club Brugge reclaimed the crown in 2023/24, it’s Genk who’re leading the charge again, and that’s greatly down to Tolu Arokodare. He’s been a true menace in the box, and now, the Nigerian is up to 18 goals and six assists in 34 games, up to March 13.
While Club Brugge got one up on Genk by booting them out of the semi-finals of the Croky Cup, 29 games in, Arokodare and Genk were nine points clear in the league. There’s a chance that the towering striker, who offers a very different skill set to Osimhen and may have been useful in the infamous loss to the Benin Republic, could become a regular Super Eagle soon.
Aina, Lookman, and Arokodare all have a chance to upset the apple cart this season and see their teams either win national titles or keep elite clubs from securing vaunted Champions League places.
and then