As Manchester United were pushing for a coveted Champions League spot during the 2019/20 season, they decided that signing Odion Ighalo would bolster the squad and help them push on. Despite being a loan signing, he is currently the highest-earning Nigerian footballer in the world today. He overtakes several high-profile players from Nigeria to sit atop the list.
With one appearance to his name this season, fans will be hoping that he can help the team to kick-start their season after a fairly poor start. Supporters can use the best Bet365 welcome offers on the next round of Premier League matches and wager on Manchester United’s upcoming matches and the team they believe will win.
Nigeria has produced a number of footballers playing around the world, but who are the 5 highest paid? Here is a look at the top earning Nigerian players.
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Kelechi Iheanacho – £60,000-per-week
As if bagging the Fifa Under-17 World Cup is not enough, Kelechi Iheanacho also picked up the Fifa Under-17 World cup Golden Ball. This caused him to grab the attention of some of the biggest clubs in the world and with that came an approach from Manchester City. While he did not make an impact there, after two years he was sold to Leicester City for £25 million and with this came a salary of £60,000 per week. This made him the most expensive Nigerian footballer at the time and as it stands, he has made 73 appearances and scored 9 goals for the club.
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Victor Moses – £75,000-per-week
Victor Moses still plays for Chelsea, which is easy to forget as he has been on loan to Liverpool, Stoke City, West Ham, Fenerbahce, and Inter Milan over the last eight years. Moses earns £75,000-a-week or £3.9m a year. Although Chelsea manager Frank Lampard tried to sell Moses; he is still at Stamford Bridge for now. He has played 100 times, scoring 20 goals for the Blues since arriving in 2012.
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Wilfred Ndidi – £75,000-per-week
Wilfred Ndidi rose into a solid Premier League defensive midfielder for Leicester City. The Nigeria joined the club in 2017 and has been a major part of each league season for the Foxes. Ndidi has played over 120 times for Leicester City. He originally broke into professional football in Belgium with Genk. Now, Ndidi is playing against the best players in the world in England.
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Victor Omishen – £96,000-per-week
In 2020, Victor Omishen traded in France’s Lille for Italy’s Napoli. The Italian club paid around £70m for the Nigeria striker. A graduate of Ultimate Strikers Academy, Omishen joined Germany’s Wolfsburg in 2017 but made his mark in Belgium with Charleroi. A transfer to Lille in 2019 led to a 13-goal haul. Omishen will make around £5m in wages at Napoli.
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Odion Ighalo – £180,000-per-week
Odion Ighalo landed at Manchester United in January 2020 as the club scrambled to find a striker. The well-travelled player has struggled to find the net at Old Trafford, but is still an important squad player for the Red Devils. Ighalo earns around £9.4m a season at the club. Ighalo is only loan at Old Trafford. He is signed permanently to Chinese Super League team Shanghai Shenhua. In 2017, Ighalo initially moved to China after a successful career in Europe with a host of clubs including Watford, Udinese, and Granada.
