Yakubu Ayegbeni is one of the finest strikers Nigeria has ever produced. He is also one of the best African strikers that has ever played in the Premier League. Despite all these stats, there is little or no trophies and personal accolades to show for it.
Yet, the 37-year-old retired Super Eagles striker who has played for Leicester City, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, Everton, Blackburn Rovers; and clubs in China and Turkey, said he had a successful football career.
Despite scoring a total of 96 goals in 250 Premier League matches for the five Premier League clubs he had played for, Ayegbeni didn’t win any laurel for the clubs.
He only helped Portsmouth to gain promotion to the Premier League in the 2002-2003 football season and also helped Middlesbrough reached the final of the 2006 Uefa Cup but failed to win the tournament. The club lost the trophy to Sevilla 4 goals to none.
It was in the Israeli League that Ayegbeni had a test of Laurels when he won the league title and the Israeli Cup with Maccabi Haifa in the 2001-2002 football season.
Yakubu Ayegbeni has no regrets
“No regrets, I tried my best and I gave everything. I helped Middlesbrough to the Uefa Cup final where we lost”, he told GOAL in an interview.
“I didn’t win any trophy in England but when I was at Maccabi Haifa, I won the league title and the Israeli Cup.
“I’m lucky to have won two titles in my career but for missing out on titles in England, I do not have any regrets over that.
“I had a wonderful career and enjoyed it scoring goals, playing along with great players and sharing dressing rooms with them. I had a great career.”
Besides club football, he was not successful as far as winning laurels for the National team is concerned. The farthest he went with the Super Eagles in over 10 years with the team is a third-place finish at the Africa Nations Cup.
Despite scoring 21 goals in 57 appearances for the Super Eagles, he lost relevance with the National team after the 2010 World Cup in South Africa due to his infamous empty net miss. He retired from international football in 2012 to concentrate on club football.
