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This week, our series on Nigerian stars, who played in their numbers for foreign clubs, continue with EPL side West Ham United the focus, writes ‘TANA AIYEJINA
Last January, English Premier League side West Ham United made a failed £20m bid for Nigerian striker Terem Moffi, who would go on to join French side Nice from another Ligue 1 club Lorient.
Over the years, The Hammers have been represented by a number of Nigerian-born footballers during their 127-year existence.
Ade Coker
The first Nigerian at the London Stadium was Coker, who was born in Lagos in 1954 and moved to London at the age of 11.
A forward, Coker scored on his debut in a 3-0 First Division win at Crystal Palace in October 1971, aged just 17, and went on to net three times in 11 first-team appearances.
He later moved to the United States in 1974 and became a USA international.
Obinna Nsofor
Nsofor spent the 2010/11 season on loan at the Boleyn Ground from Inter Milan.
The enigmatic forward scored just three Premier League goals in 25 appearances, including two in a 3-1 win at Blackpool, in February 2011, having netted a hat-trick in an FA Cup fourth-round win over Nottingham Forest at the Boleyn Ground the previous weekend.
Obinna also supplied assists for all four goals in the memorable 4-0 League Cup fifth-round win over Manchester United in the east London snow in November 2010, before being sent-off in the semi-final first leg against Birmingham City!
Victor Moses
Moses was loaned to West Ham by Chelsea for the 2015/16 season and highlighted his year-long stay in east London with a rasping strike in the 2-1 Premier League win at Manchester City in September 2015.
Emmanuel Emenike
Moses’ international teammate Emenike also spent the 2015/16 season on loan with the Irons, from Turkish club Fenerbahçe.
West Ham were desperate for a new striker that January transfer window and were linked with a host of names.
In the end they managed to secure Emenike on loan.
He had a good goalscoring record in Russia and Turkey, two areas then manager Slaven Bilic knew well, so the hope was that he could translate the goals to English football.
He did not.
The striker failed to score in 13 Premier League appearances, but did manage a brace in the 5-1 FA Cup fifth-round win at Blackburn Rovers in February 2016.
Others
While he was not born in Nigeria, current defender Angelo Ogbonna was raised in Italy by Nigerian parents, while former striker Carlton Cole has Nigerian heritage, as does Academy goalkeeper Daniel Jinadu, who played three games for Nigeria at the 2019 U-17 World Cup.
There’s also Ademipo Odubeko, the 20-year-old striker born in Ireland to Nigerian parents. Odubeko joined West Ham from Man United in 2019, and has gone on loan spells at Huddersfield Town, Doncaster Rovers and currently at Port Vale.
Born in Islington and raised in Romford, England, centre-back Ajibola Alese began his career with West Ham United, turning pro in July 2018. He made his Hammers debut September 22, 2020, playing the full 90 minutes of a 5–1 EFL Cup third round victory over Hull City.He joined Sunderland last summer.
Another centre-back Josh Okotcha, 21, was a youth academy graduate of the Hammers, while Oladapo Afolayan had a three-year stint at the London Stadium from 2018 to 2021.
Iyoola Adebayo and Olatunji Akinola also had stints at the current Premier League strugglers.