Nigerian footballers are very talented and highly sought after across the world. They have made indelible marks in the sands of time and are handsomely paid whilst doing that.
Amidst the high number of players in the Nigerian Football Association, a handful of them are highly paid outside the country.
Here’s a list of top ten highest paid Nigerian footballers.
Victor Osimhen:
Victor Osimhen is a Nigerian player who was born in Lagos on 29th December 1999. The striker has played for various teams in Europe like Bundesliga’s VFL Wolfsburg, Charleroi in the Jupiler league where he scored his first professional goal, a backheel against Waasland.
On 22nd September 2018, he made a transfer to ligue 1 side, Lille losc the following season where he went on to score 18 goals in 38 games for the French side. He later made an €80,000,000 transfer to Napoli on 31st July 2020, becoming Africa’s most expensive footballer ever. The striker currently earns £110,000 per week thus making himself one of the highest earning Nigerian footballers.
Wilfred Ndidi:
Wilfred Ndidi was also born in Lagos on 16th December 1996. The 24 year old who is considered to be one of the best defensive midfielders in the world started his senior career at Genk in 2015 after a €180,000 transfer from Nath boys. He made his debut on 31st January 2015 in a 1-0 win against Charleroi, and also picked up the goal of the season following a stunner scored against Club Brugge. In 2017, he made a £17,000,000 transfer to Premier league side Leicester City where he earns £75,000 weekly.
Kelechi Ihenacho:
Iheanacho Kelechi was born on 3rd October 1996 at Owerri, Imo state in Nigeria where he started his youth career with Taye academy. In 2013, he was in the team that won the FIFA U17 world cup for Nigeria. He later joined the Manchester City academy in 2014 and in the 2015 he broke into the City first team. Iheanacho is among an elite English Premier league footballers who scored 10 premier league goals before 20 years of age, he also got nominated for the FIFA Golden Boy awards in 2016. In 2017, Iheanacho made a £25,000,000 to Leicester city and made his debut in a 4-3 loss to Arsenal on 11th August, 2017, and has gone on to win both the FA cup and Community shield for Leicester. On 3rd April 2021, Iheanacho signed a new contract to keep him at the club until 2024. He now earns £60,000 weekly.
John Mikel Obi:
Mikel Obi was born in Jos on 22nd April 1987, he is one of the best Nigerian footballers that ever played, the former Super Eagle captain has played for various teams, including, LYN, Chelsea, Tianjin TEDA, Middlesbrough, Tranzbonspor, Stoke City and the latest Kuwait outfit, Kuwait SC where he earned $83,000(£60,000) weekly to be the highest earner in the Kuwait league. He played his best football at Chelsea where he won 11 trophies, including 2EPL, 1 UCL, 4 FA Cup, 2 English league cup, 1 Europa and 1 community shield. He also won 1 AFCON for the Super Eagles.
Alex Iwobi:
Alexander Chuka Iwobi, commonly known as Alex Iwobi was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 3rd may, 1996 and moved to England when he was 4 years old. He joined Arsenal academy in 2004 and broke into the first team in 2015. He went on to win the FA Cup and Community shield with Arsenal, he scored the only goal in Arsenal’s 4-1 loss to Chelsea in the Europa league final. In 2019, Iwobi joined Everton for £28,000,000 and £34,000,000 if add-ons are included, earning £50,000 weekly.
Odion Ighalo:
Odion Ighalo was born in Lagos on June 16 1989 and he plays as a striker for Saudi Professional League side, Al Shabab. Before signing for the club, he had previously played for renowned clubs like LYN, Udinese, Granada, Watford and even Manchester United where he played European football last. Ighalo holds the record for most goals in one AFCON campaign after he bagged 7 goals in the 2019 AFCON. He signed for Al Shabab on 4th February 2021 from Chinese club, Shanghai Shenhua where he was paid £300,000, he now earns £49,000 per week.
Victor Moses:
Victor Moses was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 12th December 1990, his parents were killed in Kaduna during a religious riot. His relatives later sent him to England where started his football career with Crystal palace in 2007, he then played for Wigan in the premier league and then Chelsea in 2012. He spent most of his time at the London club on loan spells to clubs like Liverpool, Stoke City, Westham, Fenerbahce and Inter Milan before he went on loan to Spartak Moscow who made his move permanent in 2021. The 2013 AFCON winner currently earns £48,000 weekly at the Russian side.
Ola Aina:
Ola Aina was born in London, United Kingdom on October 8,1996. The Torino right wing back started his youth career at Chelsea and impressed the then Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho who ushered him into the first team in 2015, on 11th July 2017, he was sent on loan to Hull City and then Torino in 2018. The Italian side made his deal permanent the following season before he went on another one year loan spell to newly promoted Fulham in 2020. Ola Aina earns £35,000 weekly wage at Torino.
Isaac Success:
Isaac Success was born on 7th January 1996 in Benin. Isaac started his senior football career at Udinese in 2013, he later moved to Granada and on 31st August 2014, made his first team debut for the Laliga side in a 1-1 draw against Elche to become the youngest player to ever appear in a Laliga game at 18 years, 7 months. He scored his first professional goal in a 1-1 draw against Valencia. On 1 July 2016, he made a £12,500,000 record fee move to Watford but his fade in form led the Nigerian to a loan spell to Malaga. He recently made a 3 year transfer move to Italian Serie A side, Udinese. His current salary is unknown but his £30,000 wage at Watford keeps him on this list.
Moses Simeon:
Moses Simon formally known as Moses Daddy-Ajala Simeon was born on 12th July 1995 in Jos, Nigeria where he joined the popular GBS Academy, the same academy that the Super Eagles captain, Ahmed Musa attended. In 2013, he joined the Ajax youth team and in 2014, joined Slovekian side Trencín. In 2015 he joined KAA Gent and then Levante in 2018. He later made a loan move to Ligue 1 outfit, Nantes. Nantes made his deal permanent with a 4 year contract the following season with a weekly wage of €34,000 (£29,160).
