Saka, Adebayor, Kanu: Arsenal's best players of Nigerian descent

The 16-year-old striker sensation - who hit the headlines for scoring a tremendous 10 goals in one game against Liverpool's Under-16s - continued to excel for the Gunners at youth level in the 2023-24 season with a staggering 32 goals in the Under-18 Premier League.

While Arsenal are understandably determined to keep Obi Martin on the books and have apparently improved their contract offer, the teenager is yet to decide his next destination and is thought to be attracting interest from German giants Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

Obi Martin currently plays his international football for Denmark, but he remains eligible to represent Nigeria, and here, Sports Mole looks at the best players of Nigerian descent to have played for the senior team.

6. Chuba Akpom

London-born striker Chuba Akpom holds dual UK and Nigerian citizenship - both of his parents are from the West African nation - and he was once regarded as one of the top prospects in Arsenal's Hale End academy.

Akpom was just six years old when he joined the Arsenal academy ranks in 2002 and eventually made the breakthrough into the first team under Arsene Wenger, but he left having played just 12 games with no goals to boot.

However, the forward exploded during the 2022-23 Championship season with Middlesbrough, notching a league-high 28 goals and earning himself a marquee move to Ajax, where he also hit double figures in his debut Eredivisie season.

Formerly representing England from Under-16 to Under-21 level, Akpom is yet to be capped by a senior national team but has declared allegiance to Nigeria, who will surely consider him for a stint in the Super Eagles jersey should he continue scoring in the same vein.

5. Folarin Balogun

While Akpom is still awaiting the phone call from the Nigerian FA, his fellow attacker Folarin Balogun - who also starred for England at youth level - opted to go in the opposite direction and don the United States shirt.

Born in New York to Nigerian parents, Balogun was just eight years old when he was invited to train at Arsenal's famed academy, but as was the case with Akpom, his Gunners career was modest at best.

Failing to transfer his prolific youth form into a glut of senior goals, Balogun netted just twice in 10 games for the first team but was another unexpected success story in the 2022-23 Ligue 1 season with Reims, notching 21 goals.

The American did not hit the same heights in his first campaign with Monaco, but he still had a direct hand in 15 goals in 32 matches across all tournaments and is a fully-fledged member of the USA national team.

4. Alex Iwobi

The first Super Eagle representative on our list, attacking midfielder Alex Iwobi is a Lagos native and was just four years old when he relocated to English shores, having also momentarily grown up in Turkey.

Another graduate of Arsenal's Hale End network, Iwobi racked up 149 appearances for the Gunners - scoring 15 goals and setting up 24 more - and thrived under the tutelage of Unai Emery during the Spaniard's ill-fated spell in charge.

Iwobi never achieved undisputed starter status in North London, though, and he was sold to Everton for £25.7m in the summer of 2019, making him one of Arsenal's most expensive departures of all time.

Now a squad player at Fulham, the playmaker pledged allegiance to Nigeria while still a teenager and has now appeared in 80 matches for the Super Eagles, whom he has represented at one World Cup and three Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

3. Nwankwo Kanu

"Oh super sub!"

Words that shall forever be associated with towering striker Nwankwo Kanu, still regarded as one of the finest players to emerge from his continent and one that continuously wowed Gooners with his array of goals from all angles.

Formerly the record holder for the most substitute appearances for Arsenal, Kanu earned his stars as Ajax and Inter Milan before linking up with Wenger in 1999, which marked the start of a five-year association with the Gunners.

The Nigerian contributed 44 goals and 32 assists in 197 games for the North London titans and was a member of their 2003-04 Invincibles squad, before going on to represent West Bromwich Albion and Portsmouth, winning another FA Cup with the latter in 2008.

Kanu's international statistics are less impressive - 12 goals and four assists in 83 caps - but he is just one of 11 male players to have won multiple African Footballer of the Year awards, clinching the prize in 1996 and 1999.

2. Emmanuel Adebayor

No doubt the most unexpected inclusion on this list, Emmanuel Adebayor was best remembered at international level for his feats with Togo, but the former striker's parents are both of Nigerian origin.

The former Arsenal, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur striker ultimately elected to represent the country of his birth, but he affirmed in a 2023 interview with TVC - via the Daily Post - that he is a "pure Yoruba".

Regarded as one of the best strikers in the Premier League for a short while, Adebayor memorably sprinted to celebrate in front of furious Gooners after scoring for Man City shortly after his departure, before burning any remaining Emirates bridges by crossing the Arsenal-Tottenham divide.

Another African Footballer of the Year winner, Adebayor briefly called time on his Togo career in the wake of their traumatising 2010 AFCON bus attack, but he swiftly resumed national team duties and remains his nation's highest male scorer with 32 strikes from 88 appearances.

1. Bukayo Saka

The scintillating starboy himself, the parents of Bukayo Saka - or to give him his full name, Bukayo Ayoyinka Temidayo Saka - both migrated to London from Nigeria, and their love for Arsenal was said to have been a key factor in their relocation.

Nurtured by Freddie Ljungberg, introduced to first-team football by Emery and developing into one of the world's most feared wingers under Mikel Arteta, Saka certainly has a case to label himself Arsenal's most influential player, notching 20 goals and 13 assists in 2023-24.

Renowned for his expertise from set-pieces, beautiful link-up play and deceptively strong frame - often using his body as an effective shield to turn full-backs and charge infield - Saka would have been eligible to play for Nigeria but quickly settled on making a name for himself for England.

The attacker has done exactly that, successfully banishing the demons of his Euro 2020 final penalty miss with three goals at the 2022 World Cup, and he was just the second player in England's Euro 2024 squad - alongside Harry Kane - to have scored over 10 times for the Three Lions.