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By Peter Akinbo.
Everton’s Goodison Park stadium has been a home away from home for some Nigerian footballers, and while some Nigeria internationals overachieved and some just filled their roles, these players have etched their names into the history of the Merseyside club.
Eight Nigerian players have played for the Toffees in their 145-year history and have been part of the journey which has kept the club ever present in the English Premier Lesgue as Everton are one of the six clubs who have never been relegated from the league.
Daniel Amokachi (1994-1996)
Daniel Amokachi, nicknamed “The Bull”, was discovered while playing for Ranchers Bees by Nigerian national team coach Clemens Westerhof, who brought the talented player to the 1990 African Nations Cup and soon Amokachi moved to play for Club Brugge in Belgium.
Performing well in Belgium and at the 1994 World Cup, Everton became interested in Amokachi and their manager Mike Walker signed him for a fee of £3m.
He went on to win the FA Cup with Everton in 1995, scoring two goals in the semi-final against Tottenham Hotspur after ‘substituting himself’ into the match while Paul Rideout was receiving treatment (the manager Joe Royle had only instructed him to warm up in preparation for possibly coming on but he went on). He appeared in the final only briefly, late on, again as a substitute but is remembered fondly for his beret-wearing celebrations afterwards.
He remained at Everton until the end of the 1995/96 season, when he was transferred to Beşiktaş for a fee of £1.75m. He had failed to make the impact at Goodison Park that many fans had been hoping for, and had been unable to win a regular place in the first team.
Amokachi scored 10 goals in 43 appearances for the Toffees in all competitions.
Joseph Yobo (2003-2012)
Joseph Yobo initially joined Everton on loan from French club Marseille in July 2002 and a £1m fee was required to register the player. An option to make the move permanent was taken up and completed in 2003 after a dispute between Yobo and Marseille was settled, with Everton agreeing a fixed additional fee of £4m.
Yobo became one of the most consistent players in the Everton squad, and was one of only seven players in the entire league to play every minute of every game throughout the 2006/07 season.
On April 15 2007, Yobo became the record appearance holder for an overseas player at Everton, a record he held until early 2012. For the UEFA Cup match against Larissa of Greece on 25 October 2007, Yobo was named as captain in the absence of Phil Neville and thus became the first African to captain the club. On May 6 2009, Yobo scored his first goal of the season against West Ham United to seal a 3–1 win.
Victor Anichebe (2006-2013)
Anichebe started his career at Everton and made his reserve-team debut for the Toffees as a 15-year-old and his first-team debut less than two years later on 27 February 2006, as a substitute in Everton’s FA Cup fourth round tie against Chelsea. He signed his first professional contract with Everton, a two-year deal, in April 2006.
On May 7, 2006, he scored his first league goal against West Bromwich Albion. He was awarded Everton’s Reserve Player of the Season for the 2005/06 season.
Anichebe suffered a groin injury while on international duty in September and did not play for the rest of 2011. He made his return as a second-half substitute on 1 January 2012, against West Bromwich Albion and scored in the 87th minute to give Everton a 1–0 away win. He continued his comeback by coming off the bench to score the equaliser in a 1–1 with Aston Villa on 14 January. Anichebe continued his goalscoring form by scoring his third goal of the season as a substitute in a 1–1 with Wigan Athletic on February 4. His appearance also meant he became Everton’s most used substitute in the history of the club, breaking Duncan Ferguson’s old record of 82.
Yakubu Ayegbeni (2007-2011)
Everton’s then-record signing for £11.25m in 2007, Yakubu Ayegbeni was keen to play regularly in Europe, and Everton had been on the market for a prolific marksman to propel them to regular continental football. It was a union that suited both parties.
Shunning the traditional centre-forwards’ number 9, Yakubu asked to be assigned number 22, setting this number as a goal-scoring target for his first season, a feat he fell one goal short of achieving. He scored 11 minutes into his debut, the first goal in a 2–1 win against Bolton Wanderers in September 2007. His first hat-trick for the club came against Fulham in a 3–0 home league win in December 2007.
His double against Newcastle United in a 3–1 win at Goodison Park on the last day of the 2007/08 season helped the Toffees clinch fifth place and a place in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup competition. He finished his first season with 15 league goals and 21 goals in all competitions for Everton. Yakubu achieved his highest goal tally for a single season, and also became the first Everton player since Peter Beardsley to net 20 goals in a season.
Unfortunately for Everton’s record signing, it was downhill from there as a ruptured Achilles tendon away at Tottenham in November of the following season ruled him out for 10 months.
Everton cashed in and Blackburn was his next signing post. His 17 goals, however, were unable to save the side from relegation and that spelled the end of Yakubu’s time in the Premier League, which he finished with 95 goals in 252 appearances.
Ayegbeni scored a total of 25 goals in 82 games for Everton.
Hope Akpan (2009-2011)
Indeed Goodison Park was a nest for Akpan who started playing for Everton when he was eight years old but surprisingly never played for the senior team. As he rose through the ranks, coach Neil Dewsnip used him regularly in the academy. Then, in 2008, Akpan was given a promotion to the club’s reserve team by head coach Andy Holden, and by the end of the year, he had inked his first professional contract.
On March 17, 2011, Akpan joined Championship team Hull City on loan for the rest of the 2010/11 season, and on June 14, 2011, Akpan signed a free transfer agreement with Crawley Town after leaving Everton.
Henry Onyekuru (2017-2019)
Everton completed the £8m signing of Henry Onyekuru in June 2017, before immediately sending the forward out on a season-long loan to Anderlecht.
Having scored 10 goals in 28 matches for Anderlecht, Onyekuru suffered a knee ligament injury in December which would require surgery. Anderlecht announced surgery would be necessary and that he would be out of action for several months. In January 2018, it was reported that Onyekuru would return to Anderlecht after rehabilitation and full recovery.
Onyekuru joined the Blues from Belgian outfit Eupen on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee to become the Club’s third signing of the 2017 summer transfer window.
He arrived at Goodison Park on the back of a prolific 2016/17 season, where he finished the Pro League’s joint-top scorer with 22 goals.
Born in Onitsha, Nigeria, Onyekuru joined the esteemed Aspire Academy aged 13 and spent five years at the Doha-based facility before joining up with Eupen.
Onyekuru did not play a single match for Everton after he failed to secure a work permit in the UK.
Ademola Lookman (2017-2019)
Ademola Lookman joined Everton in January 2017, signing from Charlton Athletic for an undisclosed fee and the Nigeria international got his Everton career off to the dream start in a friendly.
Stepping off the bench with just one minute remaining, the teenager provided a confident low finish through the legs of Claudio Bravo at the Howard Kendall Gwladys Street End to seal a stunning 4-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
In January 2018, Lookman joined German club RB Leipzig on loan for the second half of the season and netted five times in 11 Bundesliga outings.
He returned to Everton that summer and went on to make 24 appearances for the Blues in 2018/19 scoring scored with a looping header in the Toffees’ 2-1 FA Cup victory over Lincoln City at Goodison Park in January 2019.
On 25 July 2019, Lookman returned to RB Leipzig on a five-year contract after an Everton career that saw him score just once for Everton in 36 appearances.
Alex Iwobi (2019-Present)
In August 2019, Nigerian midfielder Alex Iwobi transferred from Arsenal to Everton for an initial £28m fee, rising to £34m with potential add-ons.
He made his debut from the bench in a game at Aston Villa before marking his first two starts with goals, Iwobi heading home in a Goodison Park Premier League win over Wolverhampton Wanderers four days after netting in a Carabao Cup tie at Lincoln City.
The 26-year-old has been one of the standout performers for the Toffees who currently sit 16th in the EPL this season starting every one of the team’s 23 Premier League matches and also supplying the most assists in the squad with six assists.
Iwobi put up a series of incredible performances in the last few months of the 2021/22 season to help Everton escape relegation and remain ever-present in the English top-flight. He has become not just one of the most important players at the club but also the most loved and appreciated by the fans.
Iwobi has scored five goals and provided 11 assists in 106 games for Everton.