Yakubu Aiyegbeni

Yakubu Aiyegbeni Biography / Profile

Yakubu Aiyegbeni was born on November 22nd, 1982 in his hometown of Benin City, Edo State. Known as “The Yak”, he is a retired professional footballer who played as a striker for numerous clubs such as Julius Berger, Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, and Everton, and the Nigerian national team.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni Age

Yakubu Aiyegbeni is 41 years old.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni Early Life

Yakubu spent much of his early days in Benin City. He used to play barefoot on the streets of Benin, until his brother gave him a pair of boots aged 12. He however moved to Abeokuta as a teenager to join the youth team of Gateway FC. He arrived in 1994 and spent three years there.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni Career

A powerful striker and one feared by numerous defences, Yakubu began his professional career with Julius Berger Football Club (now Bridge FC) in 1997. After a year in the Nigerian Premier League with the Lagos club, he was loaned to Portuguese club Gil Vicente. In 1998, Israeli side Maccabi Haifa paid Julius Berger $300,000 for his signature. Yakubu's highest scoring season at Haifa was 2001–02, when he scored 13 times in 22 games (League season was 33 matches). He came to England and trained with Derby County but could not obtain a work permit at the time. He scored seven goals in eight European Cup appearances in the 2002–03 season UEFA Champions League, (including a hat-trick against Olympiakos and a penalty in the 3–0 win over Manchester United). He movd to Portsmouth in January 2003. He spent two seasons at the club. Yakubu's 28 Premier League goals between his two seasons made him Portsmouth's highest ever scorer in the Premier League, with nine more than their second-highest scorer Benjani Mwaruwari.

After being courted by many clubs, Yakubu signed for Middlesbrough for £7.5 million in 2005 and ended the season as the club’s top goalscorer with 19 league and cup goals. He formed a formidable partnership with Mark Viduka and helped spearhead Boro into the UEFA Cup final in 2006. He was transferred to Everton in August 2007 for a fee of £11.25 million on a five-year deal, which was at the time the most the club had ever paid for a player. Yakubu's Everton career got off to a flying start when he scored on his debut against Bolton Wanderers. He remained a constant scoring threat throughout the season, notching a career best 21 goals. That haul included hat-tricks against Fulham and SK Brann. But it wasn't an unblemished season for the striker as he was dropped by David Moyes following a late return from the African Cup of Nations. Yakubu was the first Toffees player to score more than 20 goals in a season since Peter Beardsley in 1992. And he began the 2008/09 campaign in similar fashion, notching four times in the first five games. Sadly though, his season ended in late November when a ruptured Achilles as Tottenham ruled him out until the summer of 2009. Yakubu made his comeback in September 2009, and scored in the Carling Cup at Hull that month. He then featured regularly before heading to the African Cup of Nations after Christmas.

He joined Leicester City on a six month loan on January 13th, 2011. He made his debut and scored in a 1-1 draw against Preston North End on January 15th, followed by another goal in a 4-2 win over Millwall on January 22nd. On 31 August 2011, Yakubu signed a three-year deal with Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee and was assigned the number 24 shirt by manager Steve Kean. He scored his first and second goals for Blackburn Rovers on 17 September on his Premier League debut against Arsenal in which Blackburn won 4–3. Yakubu confirmed on 28 June 2012 that he had left Blackburn and had signed for Chinese side Guangzhou R&F, on an initial three-year deal. On 15 July, Yakubu made his Chinese Super League debut in a Guangzhou Derby match which Guangzhou R&F played against Guangzhou Evergrande at Tianhe Stadium. He scored the winning goal of the match in the 87th minute, ending Guangzhou Evergrande's 34-league-home-match unbeaten run.

On 2 February 2015, Reading signed free agent Yakubu on a contract until the end of the 2014–15 season. On 14 February, Yakubu scored his first goal for the Royals with the winner in a 2–1 defeat of Derby County at Pride Park to put the club into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Yakubu was released by Reading on 21 May 2015. On 31 August 2015, Yakubu signed a one-year contract, with the option of an additional year, with Süper Lig side Kayserispor. On 13 February 2017, Yakubu signed for Coventry City until the end of the 2016–17. On 5 April 2017, having featured only three times due to suffering a hamstring injury, Yakubu's Coventry City contract was terminated by mutual consent.

The powerful striker scored 21 goals in 57 appearances for Nigeria and took part in four Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the 2000 Olympic Games, as well as the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The striker started in all three games for the Super Eagles in South Africa. However, he is mostly remembered for a high-profile close range miss in the final group game against South Korea. The third-best all-time scorer of the senior national team, announced his retirement from football on 22 November 2017.

Yakubu Aiyegbeni Personal Life

In 2008, Yakubu married Yvonne Lameen Ikhana, the daughter of former Nigerian international footballer, and coach, Kadiri Ikhana, who is also the father-in-law to former Nigerian international footballer Patrick Ovie. Yakubu and Ikhana have 2 daughters named Kayla and Katriel.