Aribo becomes 22nd Super Eagle to play 100 games for an English club

Joe Aribo has become the 22nd Super Eagles player to play at least 100 games for an English club.

The 28 year old achieved this feat when he featured for Southampton in their 2-1 defeat to Wolves in a Premier League matchweek 29 fixture at the Saint Mary’s stadium on saturday.

The central midfielder has thus joined 21 other Nigerian football stars who have featured in at least 100 games for an English club, irrespective of the division.

Aribo 100 appearances for relegation threatened Southampton came from the 49 games he played in the Premier League where he scored five goals, 35 in the Sky Bet Championships where he netted four times and provided an assist, six in the FA Cup and seven in the EFL (Carabao) Cup.

Meanwhile, Foluwashola Ameobi is the Nigerian with the most appearances for a single club in England.

Now 43, Ameobi featured 398 times across all competitions for Newcastle United. His 79 goals and 43 assists are also the highest scored and provided, respectively, by a Nigerian for a single club in England.

Ameobi is followed by Mikel Obi who played in 372 games across all competitions for Chelsea. He scored six goals and provided 12 assists during his time at Stamford Bridge.

Wilfred Ndidi who joined Leicester City in January 2017 is third on the appearance list. The 28 year old has played 294 games for the Foxes across all competitions. He will be looking to make it 295 when Leicester City host Manchester United in a Premier League matchweek 29 game at the King Power stadium on Sunday.

Ndidi has scored scored 18 goals and provided 21 assists in his 294 appearances so far.

As many as six Nigerians have featured in 100+ games for two clubs in England.

Sone Aluko featured 108 times for Hull City and 102 times for Reading, scoring a combined 19 goals and 16 assists.

Semi Ajayi who is still playing for West Brom in the Sky Bet Championship and was in Nigeria’s squad to the last Africa Cup of Nations also played over 100 games each for two clubs. He played 176 times for West Brom and 108 times for Rotherham.

Dickson Etuhu has also featured in at least a 100 games each for Preston (148) and Fulham (127).

The list of six is completed by the trio of Nwankwo Kanu, Alex Iwobi and Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

Kanu featured in 197 games for Arsenal and scored 44 goals. He also featured 166 times for Portsmouth and scored 28 times.

Iwobi also featured for Arsnal (149), scoring 15 times as well as 140 times for Everton, netting nine times.

Aiyegbeni, the Nigerian top scorer in Premier League history with 95 goals in 252 appearances also featured in at least a 100 games for two clubs during his highly successful, goal-den stay in England.

The Yak, as he was fondly called during his active playing days featured 107 times for Everton and 104 times for Middlesbrough. He scored 33 times at Everton and 35 at the Riverside for Middlesbrough.