Yakubu (footballer)

Yakubu

File:Yakububyevertonfc.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Abdulrasaq Yakubu Aiyegbeni
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Everton
Number	22
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 October 2008

This article is about the Nigerian footballer. For other people named Yakubu, see Yakubu (disambiguation).

Abdulrasaq Yakubu Aiyegbeni (born 22 November 1982 in Benin City, Nigeria), nicknamed "The Yak" and generally known as simply Yakubu, is a Nigerian footballer, who currently plays as a striker for Everton in the English Premier League. He is the highest scoring African player in Premier League history.

Club career

A powerful pacy striker, Yakubu started his career when bought by Israeli team Maccabi Haifa, who loaned him for one season to Hapoel Kfar Saba. After returning to Haifa, he won two championships and had an excellent scoring record with the club, both in the domestic and international competitions, breaking several club records. He came to England and trained with Derby County but could not obtain a work permit at the time. After scoring 7 goals in 8 European Cup appearances (including a hat-trick against Olympiacos and another against Manchester United) in the 2002–03 season UEFA Champions League, Yakubu moved to English club Portsmouth in January 2003.

Portsmouth

His goals helped fire Portsmouth to the Division One title, scoring at a rate of one goal every two games.

During the club's debut Premier League season, in which they finished 13th, he scored 16 times in 35 starts, including 4 in a single game as Portsmouth defeated Middlesbrough 5-1 on the final day of the season. During the summer of 2004 several other Premiership teams were interested in purchasing Yakubu for up to £10 million, but he chose to stay and help consolidate the club's Premiership position. His final goal for Portsmouth in May 2005 before he left the club - the equaliser in a 1-1 home draw to Bolton Wanderers in the penulitimate league game of the season - was the goal that ensured Portsmouth would not be relegated from Premiership in the 2004–05 season.

Middlesbrough

After the 2004–05 season, he transferred from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough for a £7.5 million fee. Yakubu scored the only goal of the game with a penalty in the first leg of the UEFA Cup last 16 round at home against A.S. Roma, giving Middlesbrough a 1-0 victory, who later went through on away goals.

His transfer from Portsmouth to Middlesbrough in July 2005 is one of those about which the Stevens inquiry report in June 2007 expressed concerns because of the lack of co-operation from agents Pinhas Zahavi and Barry Silkman.

Everton

Yakubu was transferred to Everton in August 2007 for a fee of £11.25m. Shunning the traditional centre-forwards' number 9 Yakubu asked to be assigned number 22, setting this number as a goal-scoring target for his first season, a feat he fell one goal short of achieving. He scored 11 minutes into his debut for the club, the first goal in a 2–1 win against Bolton Wanderers, at the Reebok Stadium in September 2007. His first hat-trick came against Fulham in a 3–0 home league win in December 2007.

Yakubu travelled to Ghana in early 2008 to compete in the Cup of Nations. Following Nigeria's exit from the competition Yakubu was late in returning to his club, and as a result was dropped by manager David Moyes once back in England. His double against Newcastle United in a 3–1 win at Goodison Park on the last day of the 2007–08 season helped the Toffees clinch 5th place and a place in the 2008-09 UEFA Cup competition. He finished his first season with 15 Premier League goals to his name, and 21 goals in all competitions for Everton. Yakubu got his highest goal tally for a single season, and also became the first Everton player since Peter Beardsley to net 20 goals in a season.

Yakubu scored his 100th goal in English football in a league game at West Bromwich Albion early in the Premier League 2008–09 season. He continued his great start to the season with a goal against Standard Liege in the UEFA Cup.

Personal life

Yakubu is married to Yvonne Ikhana, the daughter of Nigerian football coach Kadiri Ikhana. He also has a younger brother, Elvis, a Pharmacist who studied at Portsmouth University.

Statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2002-03||rowspan="3"|Portsmouth||First Division||13||7||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||13||7 |- |2003-04||rowspan="2"|Premier League||37||16||4||1||2||2||colspan="2"|-||43||19 |- |2004-05||30||13||2||2||3||2||colspan="2"|-||35||17 |- |2005-06||rowspan="3"|Middlesbrough||rowspan="3"|Premier League||34||13||7||4||2||0||13||2||56||19 |- |2006-07||37||12||8||4||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||45||16 |- |2007-08|0|2|0|0|0|-|0|colspan="2"|-|0|colspan="2"|-|0|2||0 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Everton||rowspan="2"|Premier League||29||15||1||0||3||3||6||3||39||21 |- |2008-09||6||3||||||1||0||1||1||8||4 Template:Football player statistics 3188||79||22||11||11||7||20||6||241||103 Template:Football player statistics 5188||79||22||11||11||7||20||6||241||103 |}

• Maccabi Haifa (2001 - 2003)
  • 24 domestic league goals in 50 appearances
  • 9 domestic cup goals in 9 appearances
  • 10 domestic European Cup goals in 12 appearances
• Hapoel Kfar Saba (2000)
  • A minor premier division club, played on loan
• Maccabi Haifa Youth team (1999)

Honours

Maccabi Haifa

• Israeli Premier League :
  • Winner: 2000-01, 2001-02

• Israel State Cup :
  • Runner-up: 2001-02

• Toto Cup :
  • Winner: 2002

Portsmouth

• Football League Division One :
  • Winner: 2002-03

Middlesbrough

• UEFA Cup :
  • Runner-up: 2005-06

External links

• Yakubu Aiyegbenji at Soccerbase
• Unofficial Fan Site
• Feed The Yak - Unofficial Fan Site