One of the stars at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and who will certainly have caught the eyes of football fans on SuperSport, has been Nigerian winger Samuel Chukwueze.
The 20-year-old and his Super Eagles team bid farewell to the AFCON when they beat Tunisia 1-0 in the third-place playoff game, leaving Chukwueze to turn his focus to the new 2019/20 La Liga season, where he will look to continue the incredible progress he has made with Villarreal.
Ikwuano-born Chukwueze came a long way very fast following his La Liga debut against Levante on 4 November 2018, having scored his first senior goal for club from Spain’s eastern coast in a Copa del Rey tie against Almeria a few days previously.
A first La Liga goal arrived on November 11, when he drove into the area and dribbled past two defenders before firing low through the legs of Rayo Vallecano goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.
A second league strike came the following weekend, when Chukwueze received a back-heel from teammate Santi Cazorla and showed composure and technique to fire the ball low into the bottom corner for the winning goal against Real Betis at the Estadio de la Ceramica.
The huge moments kept coming for SuperSport viewers, with the teenager completing the 90 minutes in a narrow defeat at Barcelona’s Camp Nou, and hitting his first Europa League goal in a 2-0 victory against Spartak Moscow to confirm Villarreal’s progress as group winners to that competition’s last 32.
All that seemed a long way away when Chukwueze was born back on 22nd May 1999 in Abia State, Nigeria. He began playing football aged just five, and although his parents originally wanted him to concentrate on his studies, his natural talent and dedication soon shone through.
