The Star
The world of football and Kanu Nwankwo
Kanu won a FIFA u-17 world cup medal , a UEFA champions League medal ,UEFA cup medal, UEFA super cup, intercontinental cup,3 Eredivisie titles three FA Cup medals and won two African player of the year award, he's one the that have won the premier league ,champions league, FA cup and among others.
According to record he made the ninth most substitute appearances in premier league history ,appearing from the bench 118 times and he's regarded as one the best players in African football history.
Kanu is a reputable and recognize personality in Africa and rest of the world, his recognition has made it possible for him to be an ambassador to well known organization such as UNICEF, Star time Cable tv.
HIS BIOGRAPHY
He was born on August 1 1976 Imo state, he's a Nigerian former professional footballer who featured as striker .He was a reputable member of the Nigerian national team, he sometimes in his earlier football career played for Iwuanyanwu Nationale,Ajax, Inter Milan of the Italian side and some English clubs such as Arsenal, West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth respectively.
Kanu is considered as one of the best African player of all time, and also named as one of the Arsenal greatest player of all time. He is one of the African players with the highest number of trophies, He won the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Olympic gold medal
CLUB CAREER
The genius began his football career from the local side called the Federation works before he moved to Iwuanyanwu Nationale,his outstanding performance in the side and the Nigerian victory in the U-17 world Championship in which he was one of the key players that made the success and his personal brilliant performance attracted the European side Ajax and he was signed to the club in 1993.He made his Ajax features and was able to record over 25 goals in 54 matches.
During the UEFA Champions League in 1995 he came in as a substitute for Ajax against AC Milan and they were able to get to the final of the competition again in the later year but lost to Juventus on penalties and he was featured throughout the game
Kanu moved to Inter Milan from Ajax in 1996,and that was the year he Captained the Nigerian National team that won that the gold medal in the Olympics and he recorded two late goals in the semi finals against Powerhouses to turn around the unfavorable initial score line and win the match in the extra time, at he same time in the same year he was named the African footballer of the year.
KANU IN INTER MILAN AND ARSENAL
After the Olympics, the genius passed through medicals in Inter Milan which revealed that the football genius sustained a serious heart problem, and it was assumed that his football career would be over, miraculously, a surgery was conducted on him in November to replace an aortic valve, and did not return to his club until April 1997,itb was a tough period for him but fortunately, gradually he was getting better and found himself on the pitch of play, the whole heart issues let to the dream of founding the Kanu heart Foundation, and organization that seems to be a charity organization that renders help to young African children who are suffering from heart problems.
His club career continued till February 1999,after he featured in few matches for Inter Milan, he was signed by the English side Arsenal for fee not less than 4.15 million euro. Kanu made his appearance for Arsenal and featured in the match against Sheffield United in the FA cup competition. He recorded his first goal for Arsenal against Derby County, coming from the bench to give the only one goal of the game and he was recognized for his ability to score goal even when he comes in as a substitute, due to his exceptional performances he was named the African footballer of the year the second time in 1999, before then, Kanu Nwankwo has subsequently came from the bench and scored in some matches against clubs such as Tottenham,Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa respectively.
He was known also by his stylish two fingered salute coined from the clubs nickname the Gunners.
During 1999-2000 season he scored 17 goals in 50 matches for Arsenal including a hat-trick in fifteenth minutes against Chelsea October 1999 to turn a 2-0 deficit into victory for his club favor.
His brilliant performance called the attention of other clubs to be interested in him and one of the club that dropped a bid of about 7 million euro was Fulham but the bid was rejected by Arsenal, after Thierry Henry was favored to be the Arsenals first choice as striker over Kanu his appearance became more lesser than before but was still given some chances to play as a substitute. Kanu among other Arsenal players won the 2003 FA Cup and he was among the member of the Invincibles and also among the players that finished the 2003-2004 premier League season unbeaten.
He featured in 197 matches and scored total number of 44 goals. His contract ended in 2004 with Arsenal and he was transferred to West Bromwich Albion on free transfer, during the 2008 poll Kanu was voted number 13th in the Gunners Greatest players.
KANU IN WEST BROMWICH ALBION
Kanu started featuring for the side regularly as the club was just newly promoted to the main League English Premier League, making his feature in the 1-1 draw against Blackburn Rovers on 14 August 2004,he scored his first goal for the side on 18 September 2004 and made other appearances with impressive performance for the club helping them to escape relegation.
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